Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.
I recently saw a very elaborate and stylized TikTok (that I forgot to save) where a woman went around from room to room in a home that had been pumpkined out. I don’t mean she raided her local Home Goods for a few candles and ceramic pumpkins. I mean this lady (my hero, truly) put pumpkins and pumpkin-shaped things on every surface of that home she could find. At the end, she took out a gorgeous cake from the fridge and set it on an immaculate marble countertop. In orange piped lettering on top of perfect white frosting were the words, “Welcome to the ‘Ber Months.” And just like that, a phrase became my entire personality.
The ‘ber months (months that end in -ber) are when many of us reach for cozy reading, books with low stakes, chill vibes, and charming plots best enjoyed wrapped in a soft blanket with a warm cup of something nearby. It may not officially be fall yet, but if it’s cozy time in your soul like it is in mine, here are six cozy books by BIPOC authors to curl up with now. Each of these reads will satisfy Task #18 of the 2025 Read Harder Challenge: Read a “cozy” book by a BIPOC author. You’ll find some cozy mysteries, some romances, and some combinations of both. Welcome to the ‘ber months, now let’s get cozy!
Deja Brew by Celestine Martin
Let me just say that this is aumtumned down. It is so thoroughly fall, and just a great book to set the mood of this list off with. In it, ex-celebrity chef Sirena Carawy is having a Bad October. Her cooking powers aren’t powering like they should, she didn’t land a job she really needed, and she even has some Halloween party regrets. As a result, she makes a wish at midnight that has her waking up to a repeat of the month that had just passed. (So, this is like a pumpkin spice-flavored Groundhog Day, basically). Her running into reality star Gus starts to set her back right. He’s in Freya Grove to repair his reputation and his heart after a breakup, and his magic might be just what she needs to fix her own. And fix something else, if you know what I mean. —Erica Ezeifedi
Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Sage Flores left her hometown years ago after her younger sister died, but returns reluctantly after losing her job when she needs a soft place to land. She slides back into her old gig at the Cranberry Rose Company, where her ability to speak to plants comes in very handy when she’s tasked with tracking down some special plant specimens. There’s just one problem with this mission: Sage is paired with Tennesse Reyes, the boy who broke her heart in high school. Now, on top of her dead sister’s ghost bringing her coffee unbidden and her other sister’s volatile magic creating all kinds of weather-related chaos, Sage has to find a way to resist the man she has spent a lot of time hating. If you love plant magic, magical realism, and second-chance love stories, get into this book and series.
Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
My elevator pitch for this charming, tender-hearted cozy fantasy romance goes a little something like this: a lonely witch is roped into becoming a magical tutor to a bunch of unruly witch kids and finds herself falling for a hot and cranky librarian. But here’s a longer pitch, courtesy of R. Nassor: “Witches in Britain live an isolated life briefly interrupted by irregular meetings to avoid magical disaster. Longing for connection, adopted orphan witch Mika Moon shares her magic on a YouTube channel where she pretends to be a witch. However, the current caregivers of the three young witches are not fooled by Mika’s witch act. They email asking her to tutor the girls, and instead of turning them down, Mika agrees, moves to their secluded home, teaches the girls, and quickly falls for one of their caregivers, the standoffish librarian, Jamie. Mandanna contemplates the effects of community, adoption, and magic on children and the adults they become.”
Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin
I picked this book up so fast when I saw it described as “Miss Marple, but make it Desi.” Our titular aunty here is a widow named Kausar Khan who gets a distressing call from her thirty-something daughter, Sana. She’s been arrested for the murder of the landlord of her clothing boutique and asks Kausar to come to Toronto and help her. Kausar agrees, even though they’re not on great terms, and the thought of returning to the city where her son died is the last thing she feels like doing. When she gets to Toronto, Kausar finds that things just aren’t adding up, both in Sana’s home life and in the case. So she does what women of a certain age do best: stick her nose where it probably doesn’t belong to get some answers.
A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant
Miss Hortense has lived in a quiet suburb of Birmingham, England since emigrating to the UK from Jamaica in the 60s. She’s retired from a career in nursing and now spends her days gardening, baking, and getting all up in other people’s business. She has an almost Sherlockian knack for sussing out people’s secrets at a glance, and she puts those skills to use on the regular.
She helped found something called the Pardner network back in the 60s, a group of local Black investors who poured into their community when help wasn’t coming from anywhere else. But she was unceremoniously ousted from its ranks in the wake of a scandal, losing her community overnight. Thirty years later, a man has been found dead in the home of one of the Pardner members with a Bible quote written on a note left with the body. Miss Hortense finds herself having to use those special skills of hers to get to the bottom of this murder and another that happens in quick succession, all while parts of her past she’d rather forget come roaring back into the present.
Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann
If you want to read something seasonal and queer but you’re not up for horror, check out this asexual F/M romance set in a haunted house! You might recognize Claire Kann’s name as the author of The Romantic Agenda and others. In this one, Lucky is a parapsychologist working with a TV production shooting in a haunted house. She hits it off with Maverick, but soon the sentient house begins to get jealous. —Danika Ellis
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