These are scary times. It can feel difficult to put effort, or interest into something as trivial-seeming as writing fiction, when we’re in for a long haul of pain and loss, all around the world. But I’m a firm believer in fiction books as an essential source of comfort in hard times.
Everyone has their own idea of what amounts to comfort reading, of course. Last night, I picked up Thrown Off the Ice by Taylor Fitzpatrick, for the fifth or sixth time, and read it till two in the morning, even though this is a book with a very bittersweet ending. Not what some folk would find comforting.
But the message that love matters, that it has a power to transform lives, even when there’s inevitable pain at the end, resonates with me. It’s an odd kind of hope, but it comforts me to see that Liam’s love for Mike was a strong center that meant everything in the world to Mike, even in his worst moments. (No matter how much Mike refused to admit it in the light of day.) And that Mike’s love, as silent and hidden as it was, filled Liam’s heart so deeply that he would brave that pain, for just one more month, one more week, one more day.
I also comfort-read the angsty books that end with an HEA. They’re an affirmation that pain happens, bad pain, and yet it can be transformed to love and happiness. That we can walk through dark times, and losses, and reach light and life at the end. Amy Lane’s Chase in Shadow is not anyone’s warm and fuzzy. And yet Chase’s strength, that got him past the bursting of that ominous red door in his head, and into therapy, and into Tommy’s arms, is a comfort. Horrible things can happen, and we can still build good lives. (The roaring twenties came after all the pain of 1918.) 
But sometimes life calls for the warm fuzzies themselves, the books that are sweet to the core with just enough poignancy for flavor. Things like Mary Calmes’ Frog or JL Merrow’s Muscling Through or Spun, Ada Maria Soto’s Empty Nests and Bowerbirds duo, or Matthew J. Metzger’s Eric the Pink. Authors like Anyta Sunday (Leo Loves Aries, Taboo for You) and N.R. Walker (Learning to Feel, Imago) and Eli Easton (Blame It on the Mistletoe, How to Howl at the Moon) have multiple books I can pick up and reread without fear for my heart.
So right now, I wanted to pass along to you those titles, and hear from you, what’s your comfort reread in tough times? Do you embrace pain before the HEA or avoid it? What books do you go back to? Let’s help each other find fiction that sustains our hearts. And a huge thank you to all the authors whose work I go to when times are tough. Keep writing. It helps a lot.
– Kaje Harper
March 2020
One of your comfort reads is also one of mine: Muscling Through by JL Merrow. I simply love it, it makes me feel good. Others are Hottie Scotty and Mr Porter by R. Cooper or the Student Prince by FayJay
I love “The Student Prince” and it’s a freebie – definitely on the list. I’ve read some R. Cooper (really liked A Boy and His Dragon) so I’ll have to check those out.
Fantastic list! Thank you for sharing (and being mentioned!). TJ Klune’s Bear, Otter, & the Kid is one of my all-time re-reads.
<3
I have to check out Empty Nests, I haven't read that one!
BOATK is a great read – the full range from great humor to deep angst, with a happy ending.
A lot of Jay Northcote’s books are low angst or even angst free! There are some more difficult but…. Roe Horvat’s Vanilla Clouds and Dirty Mind. Aidan Wayne’s Showers, flowers, and fangs, and Not So Cookie Cutter are also wonderful. Erin McLellan’s Candy Hearts.
I loved Vanilla Clouds – great choice. And Jay’s books too. I’ll have to check out the others. Thanks.
The ones I’ve just read recently…that have left an impression, include:
For Sam, time Infinity by Suki Fleet
As well as ARC’s I just finished:
Dancing with a Star by Grace Kilian Delaney
Revelations by Nikole Knight
Exasperating by Onley James
Some new ones to me there, (although I do enjoy Suki Fleet’s writing.) I’ll have to keep an eye out for those books when they come out.
One of my favorite comfort reads (or listens, since I’m an audiobook fan) is Wanted: Bad Boyfriend by T.A. Moore. PD Singer’s Tail Slide is a cute short. I mean, who wouldn’t love an otter shifter and a box of Cheerios? Also, Megan Derr’s Tournament of Losers.
Ooh, Otter shifters. I will have to check that out. Thanks for the suggestions.
Anything by Alexis Hall
NR Walker’s Red Dirt Heart series and Imago are faves
KJ Charles.
K Sterling’s Boys of Lake Cliff
LJ Hayward’s Death and the Devil series
Have to mention Julie Bozza!
I better go before I add any more or we’ll be here all night 😄
Everyone take care of yourselves and enjoy your reads
Kelly J.
Oh yes, Julie Bozza’s “Butterfly Hunter” and “The Apothecary’s Garden” are great comfort reads.
There’s a trio of books by Alyx J Shaw called “A Strange Place in Time” These books are my comfort reads. They have Gay characters, straight characters, trans characters. Elves, half elves, dragons,dwarves, Gods, magic and a motorcycle gang. The books read as if Douglas Adams and Erma Bombeck had a love child with JRR Tolkien.
I’m not familiar with those – I’ll have to check them out, thanks <3
My bought-and-TBR list grew so much form this post. A sale at Smashwords includes books mentioned here and some of Kaje’s books, which helped keep costs down.
I was interested to see Chase in Shadow as a comfort read as one of mine is Dex in Blue from the same series. Bad things happen, but in the end you know that Kane and Dex will work things out. Both are in a better place at the end than they were at the beginning of the book.