{"id":16842,"date":"2021-12-29T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/?p=16842"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:37:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:37:04","slug":"comfort-reads-of-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/archives\/16842","title":{"rendered":"Comfort Reads of 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year was awful for me.<\/p>\n

Really awful.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Small<\/a>I’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<\/em>, 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<\/p>\n

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

Fantasy<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Big Bad Wolf series* by Charlie Adhara<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Wolf at the Door<\/em><\/a> (2018), The Wolf at Bay<\/em> (2018), Thrown to the Wolves<\/em> (2019), Wolf in Sheep\u2019s Clothing<\/em> (2020)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Mystery, Romance, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes<\/a><\/strong>:<\/h4>\n

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant<\/em><\/a> (2014), Undeath and Taxes<\/em> (2015), Bloody Acquisitions<\/em> (2016), Deadly Assessments<\/em> (2018), Undeading Bells<\/em> (2019)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Mystery<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Offbeat Crimes series* by Angel Martinez<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters<\/em><\/a> (2016), The Pill Bugs of Time<\/em> (2016), Skim Blood and Savage Verse<\/em> (2017), Feral Dust Bunnies<\/em> (2017), Jackalopes and Woofen-Poofs<\/em> \u00a0(2017), All the World\u2019s an Undead Stage<\/em> (2018); Brandywine Investigations*<\/strong>: Open for Business<\/a><\/em> (2016), Family Matters<\/em> (2018); Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists<\/em><\/a>* (2017)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Mystery, Romance, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"London<\/a><\/p>\n

Shadow Police series by <\/strong>Paul Cornell<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

London Falling<\/a><\/em> (2012), The Severed Streets<\/em> (2014), Who Killed Sherlock Holmes?<\/em> (2016)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Mystery<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

C.S. Poe<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage<\/em><\/a>* (2016)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Romance, <\/em>LGBT, Short story<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nicole Kimberling<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

Grilled Cheese and Goblins: Adventures of a Supernatural Food Inspector<\/em><\/a>* (2018)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Mystery, Romance, LGBT <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>T.J. Klune<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

The House in the Cerulean Sea<\/em><\/a> (2020)<\/p>\n

Fantasy, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Aidan Wayne<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

Making Love<\/a><\/em> (2017)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Romance, LGBT, novella<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Audio<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Daniel O’Malley<\/strong> The Rook, Audio Edition<\/em><\/a> (2012) narrated by Susan Duerden<\/p>\n

Stiletto, Audio Edition<\/em> (2016) narrated by Moira Quirk<\/p>\n

Urban Fantasy<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mystery<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"Cut<\/a>Julian Kestrel Mysteries by <\/strong>Kate Ross<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cut to the Quick<\/em><\/a> (1993), A Broken Vessel<\/em> (1994), Whom the Gods Love<\/em> (1995), The Devil in Music<\/em> (1997)<\/p>\n

Historical Mystery<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Regency London series by Michelle Diener<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Emperor\u2019s Conspiracy<\/em> (2012), Banquet of Lies<\/em><\/a> (2013), A Dangerous Madness<\/em><\/a> (2014)<\/p>\n

Historical Mystery, Romance <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cat Sebastian<\/a> <\/strong> Hither, Page<\/em><\/a>* (2019)<\/p>\n

Historical Mystery, Romance, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

C.S. Poe<\/strong><\/a> Southernmost Murder<\/em><\/a>* (2018)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Mystery, Romance, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Come<\/a>Josh Lanyon<\/strong><\/a> Come Unto These Yellow Sands<\/a>*<\/em> (2017)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Mystery, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nicole Kimberling<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

The Bellingham Mystery Series Volume 1<\/em><\/a>* (2015), The Bellingham Mystery Series Volume 2*<\/em> (2015)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Mystery, Romance, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grasmere Cottage Mysteries<\/em><\/a> (2018) by Dahlia Donovan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dead in the Garden<\/em><\/a>, D<\/em>ead in the Pond<\/em>, Dead in the Shop<\/em><\/p>\n

Contemporary Mystery<\/em>, Cozy, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Robert B. Parker<\/a><\/strong> Small Vices<\/em><\/a> (1998) (Spenser)<\/p>\n

Mystery, PI<\/em><\/p>\n

Romance<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"Shores<\/a>Lescaut Quartet* by Tracy Grant<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dark Angel<\/em><\/a> (1994), Shores of Desire<\/em><\/a> (1997)<\/p>\n

Historical Romance, MF, Mystery<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Turner series* by Cat Sebastian<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lawrence Browne Affair<\/em><\/a> (2017), The Ruin of a Rake<\/em><\/a> (2017);
\nIt Takes Two to Tumble<\/em><\/a>* (2017) (Seducing the Sedgwicks)<\/p>\n

Historical Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sins of the Cities series* by KJ Charles<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

An Unseen Attraction<\/em><\/a> (2017), An Unnatural Vice<\/em> (2017);
\nBand Sinister<\/em><\/a>* (2018)<\/p>\n

Historical Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Georgette Heyer<\/a><\/strong> These Old Shades<\/em><\/a> (1926)<\/p>\n

Historical Romance<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Better<\/a>Garnet Run series* by Roan Parrish<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Better Than People<\/em><\/a> (2020), Best Laid Plans<\/em> (2021); Riven*: <\/strong>Riven<\/a><\/em> (2018), Rend<\/em> \u00a0(2018); The Remaking of Corbin Wale<\/a>*<\/em> (2017)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Frozen Hearts series* by Annabeth Albert<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Arctic Sun<\/em><\/a> (2019), Arctic Wild<\/em><\/a> (2019), Arctic Heat<\/em><\/a> (2019)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Talia Hibbert<\/strong><\/a> *<\/p>\n

Ravenswood: A Girl Like Her<\/em><\/a> (2018), Damaged Goods<\/em><\/a> (2018), Untouchable<\/em><\/a> (2018), That Kind of Guy<\/em><\/a> (2019);
\nUndone by the Ex-Con<\/em><\/a> (2018), Work for It<\/em><\/a> (2019)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

C.S. Poe<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kneading You<\/em><\/a>* (2016), Joy<\/em><\/a> (2017), The Color of You<\/em><\/a>* (2017)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT, novellas<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Galaxies<\/a>N.R. Walker<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Galaxies and Oceans<\/em><\/a>* (2018), Upside Down<\/em><\/a> (2019)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R. Cooper<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter<\/em><\/a>* (2017), For Better or Worse<\/em><\/a>* (2017), Jericho Candelario\u2019s Gay Debut<\/em><\/a> (2018)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Layla Reyne<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n

Dine with Me<\/a>*<\/em> (2019)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Aidan Wayne<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Loud and Clear<\/em><\/a> (2016), Play It Again<\/em><\/a> (2019)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Blank<\/a>
\nCass Lennox<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n

Blank Spaces<\/em><\/a>* (2016)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, Mystery, LGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alexis Hall<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n

Waiting for the Flood<\/em><\/a> (2018) (Spires)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, \u00a0LGBT, novella<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ada Maria Soto<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n

And Everything Nice<\/em><\/a> (2016)<\/p>\n

Contemporary Romance, MM, LGBT, short story<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* Boinking Books<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pefxA-4nE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19547,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16842\/revisions\/19547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}