Leah Rachel von Essen reviews genre-bending fiction for Booklist, and writes regularly as a senior contributor at Book Riot. Her blog While Reading and Walking has over 10,000 dedicated followers over several social media outlets, including Instagram. She writes passionately about books in translation, chronic illness and bias in healthcare, queer books, twisty SFF, and magical realism and folklore. She was one of a select few bookstagrammers named to NewCity’s Chicago Lit50 in 2022. She is an avid traveler, a passionate fan of women’s basketball and soccer, and a lifelong learner. Twitter: @reading_while
There are a lot of things that are super unpleasant about winter. Shoveling snow, walking through slush, your glasses fogging up, your toes going numb on your morning commute, and of course, the sun sets way too early in the evening, so it’s already dark when the work day is over. Winter can be a slog, especially for those of us with seasonal affective nonsense.
But there’s one thing that’s universally excellent about winter. When it’s really cold out, the windows are frosting up, and snow is coming down, you can make yourself a nice warm drink, get cozy under some fuzzy blankets, light a favorite candle, and snuggle up with a good book. There’s nothing like the feeling of soft, warm contentment that steals over you in those moments of peaceful reading.
So I’ve gathered together seven excellent books to help maximize your cozy winter reading. From the short stories of BookTok superstar Olivie Blake to nostalgic new manga translations to exciting new historical fiction, these nine books will make your intimate, snuggly winter afternoons just perfect.
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Del Rey, Jan. 2025)
This new, soft fantasy is the perfect companion to a fuzzy blanket and a comfortable chair: enter a delightful (but still dangerous) world of paper-lantern wishes and origami secrets. Hana has just inherited the family’s pawn shop from her father. It’s an unusual place where people go to pawn their regrets—which are then pawned off to frightening, uncrossable creatures. When Hana’s father goes missing alongside a valuable pawned item, Hana is tasked with finding him—or else—alongside an unexpected ally, a customer who had just wandered into their shop that day.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Volume 10 by Naoko Takeuchi, translated by Alethea and Athena Nibley
Ok, I know that Sailor Moon isn’t new. But these stunning new translations by the Nibleys are, and volume 10 finally came out this fall, completing the series. These new translations are more accurate, following original Japanese names and references, utilizing translation notes and footnotes rather than over-using localization, and also reintroducing readers to the real, queer, romantic Sailor Moon series as it was meant to be read. The series is cozy, fun, and all about friendship, growth, and the power of love. If you’re an old fan, dig into a worthwhile reread; if you’re new to the series, you’ll fall in love with its at-turns silly and emotional story.
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Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey (Random House, Feb. 2025)
Sometimes, you just have to embrace the cold. Ivey is famous for her fairytale adaptation The Snow Child, set in the most frigid reaches of Alaska, and now she’s following up with a Beauty and the Beast–inspired story set in the remote Alaskan wilderness. Our protagonist falls in love with a rugged man named Arthur, and takes her young daughter to live with him out in the country. But there are dangers out in the world, and Birdie isn’t quite ready to face any of them. Read about a small family in a totally unforgiving landscape while safe in your cozy nook indoors.
Granada: The Complete Trilogy by Radwa Ashour, translated by Kay Heikkinen
My favorite thing to read in the middle of winter is a volume of epic historical fiction. Opening a chunky, multigenerational tale in the midst of dark January is such a dream: you get to dive into an entirely different world for hours. And this amazing book, a masterpiece of Arabic literature, has only just finally been translated in full and released in English. Chronicling the fall of Muslim life in medieval Spain, it follows one family as they try to keep their lives intact and their secrets hidden in the midst of oppression and rebellion.
Playground by Richard Powers
One of my favorite books is The Overstory, a book that brings together and fictionalizes real stories of the science of trees and forests and the people who have studied and protected them. This new novel from Powers might just do the same thing for our oceans—a place of endless mystery and wonder. A series of young, curious people make discoveries that will draw them into a net of exploration in French Polynesia and dive into everything from the possibility of AI to the fascination of the oceans’ hidden depths. Let an epic literary fiction unfurl as temperatures drop outside.
Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, and Betrayal by Olivie Blake
Blake, author of The Atlas Six series, has taken the fantasy and BookTok world by storm over the last couple years. This newest (and aptly titled for a winter read) is a short story and novella collection that has plenty of romantasy tales and even some spice, but also rich and unusual stories featuring weird roommates, monstrous babies, dystopian loan schemes, and much more that might surprise the most faithful Blake fans and will delight general SFF fans. Take it one story at a time, enjoying the wintry landscape outside between tales.
Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill (Orbit, Feb. 2025)
A razor-toothed monster named Jenny is bemused when the local townspeople throw a woman into her lake because they think she’s a witch. Temperance is a witch, of course, but that doesn’t account for the sudden increase of hatred in the area—until Jenny realizes the new head of the local church is an ancient evil they all need to fear. Jenny packs up a lot of rotten fish and she and Temperance head out to consult the world of fae and try to save their mutual homes in this rich, magical, funny story—the perfect book to get engrossed in as your forgotten tea cools.
Want more book recommendations for this winter? Check out our list of winter book releases to put on hold now, or for some backlist picks, check out our list from 2023 of books to read in the winter cold.
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