Random (but not really)

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Comfort Reads of 2021

This year was awful for me.

Really awful.

So I did a lot of rereading of books of favorites, or books that brought me comfort and allowed me a distraction from reality. And those two are not always the same thing. Some distracting books are not comforting, but none of the books have a cliff-hanger ending, and to me, all of the endings are satisfying.

This list is going to be a lot of books. But I read a stupidly large number of books this year, so this is kind of a drop in the bucket.

Small VicesI’m not even going to try to tell you what makes these books so good, just that each and every one of these served to pull me out of my own head when I desperately needed it. In fact, the first book I reached for after my father died was Robert Parker’s Small Vices, and the only reason the Miss Marple series didn’t make the list is because I had just finished rereading that entire series at the end of 2020

I do, however, want to note that several authors made this list in multiple genres, including C.S. Poe, who wrote books I adore in all three of my escapism genres. The others are Nicole Kimberling, Cat Sebastian, Aidan Wayne.

Fantasy

Big Bad Wolf series* by Charlie Adhara

The Wolf at the Door (2018), The Wolf at Bay (2018), Thrown to the Wolves (2019), Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2020)

Supernatural Mystery, Romance, LGBT

 

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred the Vampire Accountant

Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes:

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant (2014), Undeath and Taxes (2015), Bloody Acquisitions (2016), Deadly Assessments (2018), Undeading Bells (2019)

Supernatural Mystery

 

Offbeat Crimes series* by Angel Martinez

Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters (2016), The Pill Bugs of Time (2016), Skim Blood and Savage Verse (2017), Feral Dust Bunnies (2017), Jackalopes and Woofen-Poofs  (2017), All the World’s an Undead Stage (2018); Brandywine Investigations*: Open for Business (2016), Family Matters (2018); Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists* (2017)

Supernatural Mystery, Romance, LGBT

 

London Falling

Shadow Police series by Paul Cornell

London Falling (2012), The Severed Streets (2014), Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? (2016)

Supernatural Mystery

 

C.S. Poe

Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage* (2016)

Supernatural Romance, LGBT, Short story

 

Nicole Kimberling

Grilled Cheese and Goblins: Adventures of a Supernatural Food Inspector* (2018)

Supernatural Mystery, Romance, LGBT

 

The House in the Cerulean SeaT.J. Klune

The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020)

Fantasy, LGBT

 

Aidan Wayne

Making Love (2017)

Supernatural Romance, LGBT, novella

 

Audio

Daniel O’Malley The Rook, Audio Edition (2012) narrated by Susan Duerden

Stiletto, Audio Edition (2016) narrated by Moira Quirk

Urban Fantasy

 

Mystery

Cut to the QuickJulian Kestrel Mysteries by Kate Ross

Cut to the Quick (1993), A Broken Vessel (1994), Whom the Gods Love (1995), The Devil in Music (1997)

Historical Mystery

 

Regency London series by Michelle Diener

The Emperor’s Conspiracy (2012), Banquet of Lies (2013), A Dangerous Madness (2014)

Historical Mystery, Romance

 

Cat Sebastian Hither, Page* (2019)

Historical Mystery, Romance, LGBT

 

C.S. Poe Southernmost Murder* (2018)

Contemporary Mystery, Romance, LGBT

 

Come Unto These Yellow SandsJosh Lanyon Come Unto These Yellow Sands* (2017)

Contemporary Mystery, LGBT

 

Nicole Kimberling

The Bellingham Mystery Series Volume 1* (2015), The Bellingham Mystery Series Volume 2* (2015)

Contemporary Mystery, Romance, LGBT

 

Grasmere Cottage Mysteries (2018) by Dahlia Donovan

Dead in the Garden, Dead in the Pond, Dead in the Shop

Contemporary Mystery, Cozy, LGBT

 

Robert B. Parker Small Vices (1998) (Spenser)

Mystery, PI

Romance

Shores of DesireLescaut Quartet* by Tracy Grant

Dark Angel (1994), Shores of Desire (1997)

Historical Romance, MF, Mystery

 

The Turner series* by Cat Sebastian

The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017), The Ruin of a Rake (2017);
It Takes Two to Tumble* (2017) (Seducing the Sedgwicks)

Historical Romance, MM, LGBT

 

Sins of the Cities series* by KJ Charles

An Unseen Attraction (2017), An Unnatural Vice (2017);
Band Sinister* (2018)

Historical Romance, MM, LGBT

 

Georgette Heyer These Old Shades (1926)

Historical Romance

 

Better Than PeopleGarnet Run series* by Roan Parrish

Better Than People (2020), Best Laid Plans (2021); Riven*: Riven (2018), Rend  (2018); The Remaking of Corbin Wale* (2017)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT

 

Frozen Hearts series* by Annabeth Albert

Arctic Sun (2019), Arctic Wild (2019), Arctic Heat (2019)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT

 

Talia Hibbert *

Ravenswood: A Girl Like Her (2018), Damaged Goods (2018), Untouchable (2018), That Kind of Guy (2019);
Undone by the Ex-Con (2018), Work for It (2019)

Contemporary Romance, LGBT

 

C.S. Poe

Kneading You* (2016), Joy (2017), The Color of You* (2017)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT, novellas

 

Galaxies and OceansN.R. Walker

Galaxies and Oceans* (2018), Upside Down (2019)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT

 

R. Cooper

Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter* (2017), For Better or Worse* (2017), Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT

 

Layla Reyne

Dine with Me* (2019)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT

 

Aidan Wayne

Loud and Clear (2016), Play It Again (2019)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT

Blank Spaces
Cass Lennox

Blank Spaces* (2016)

Contemporary Romance, MM, Mystery, LGBT

 

Alexis Hall

Waiting for the Flood (2018) (Spires)

Contemporary Romance, MM,  LGBT, novella

 

Ada Maria Soto

And Everything Nice (2016)

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT, short story

 

* Boinking Books

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