Is it just me who has those books that you just keep going back to? Those books that no matter how many times you read them, they always comfort you. Other people may not understand why you keep picking up the tattered old book, but the familiar characters and story ease your mind and let you know all is well with the world, leaving you refreshed and ready for whatever new read you will pick up next. Here are my top ten comfort reads!
Beast
Standalone
by Pepper Pace
I just love this book. I know the cover is, lets face it, bloody awful, but much like the hero of the book, don’t let the outside appearance fool you, on the inside it’s warm, and romantic! If you like stories about BBW (which I have a weakness for) then you will doubly love this book.
“Christopher…you are the one that’s beautiful.” She lifted her head. “And not just on the inside. You’re beautiful on the outside, too. To me…you’re perfect.” She could see several emotions move across his face before his eyes half closed…
“You say that to me…and if you’re not careful you might end up stuck with me.” It was a warning.
The Raven Prince
Princes Trilogy #1
by Elizabeth Hoyt
You may notice a theme going through my comfort reads, I like my heroes and heroines to be imperfect, whether in looks or temperament, perfection can become boring. And there is nothing boring about The Raven Prince, I love the bad-tempered and ugly hero and I can’t help but go back for more.
“I’ve heard some people say my temper is rather . . .” He paused, apparently searching for a word.
Anna helped him. “Savage?”
He squinted at her.
“Ferocious?”
He frowned and opened his mouth.
She was quicker. “Barbaric?”
He cut her off before she could add to her list. “Yes, well, let us simply say that it intimidates some people.” He hesitated. “I wouldn’t want to intimidate you, Mrs. Wren.”
“You don’t.”
Hearts of Fire
Hearts #2
by L.H. Cosway
I may be cheating a little with this one, it hasn’t been out long, but already I know it is a book that I will read again and again. Girl who runs away with the circus + Boy who likes to play with fire = Supreme satisfaction.
“Skin is important, Lille. Some marks last forever. You have to decide if they’re worth it.”
Sweet Dreams
Colorado Mountain #2
by Kristen Ashley
It wouldn’t be a proper list if I couldn’t include Kristen Ashley on it some how, and honestly I take comfort in quite a few of her books, but this one… I can’t get enough of. It has a lot to do with Tate the hero of the book, and possibly something to do with his beard…
“God, if he wasn’t so handsome, strong, sometimes sweet, didn’t have a Harley, that beard, a tendency to play with my hair, didn’t look so good in jeans and wasn’t so danged good in bed, he would seriously not be worth it.”
Born of Night
League #1
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
I absolutely love this series, and this is the book that started the obsession and also the book I always go back when I fancy dipping my toe in. Why do you say? Because no matter how bad I am feeling, I know Kenyon has put my fierce Nyk through way worse. I think Kenyon has a secret sadistic streak.
“You have to learn to smile through your pain. Sometimes it’s all we got.”
Psy Changeling Novellas
Psy Changeling Series
by Nalini Singh
Why pick just one? I love the Psy Changeling series, but when I want a little something to read, I normally go and pick any one of the novellas that accompany the series. It has all the romance I have come to expect and love from Nalini but with out any of the politics present in the main series. It’s perfect for a little comfort.
Magic Strikes 
Kate Daniels #3
by Ilona Andrews
Just. Love. This. Series. In fact I feel like abandoning this post and rereading it right now. Hands down the Kate Daniels series is my favourite ever series, and I LOVE this installment and I always reach for it in my times of need.
“You thought about dragging me into your bed this morning.”
“I thought about stabbing you and running away screaming. You broke into my house without permission and slobbered all over me. You’re a damn lunatic! And don’t give me that line about smelling my desire; I know it’s bullshit.”
“I didn’t need to smell you. I could tell by the dreamy look in your eyes and the way your tongue licked the inside of my mouth.”
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
Love by Numbers #1
by Sarah Maclean
When I first read this book, it took me by complete surprise, it was love at first chapter…only not with the hero. One of the things I love most about this book is that it is the heroine that steals the show and who I keep going back for. This book’s fun and sense of adventure always leave me feeling suitably comforted.
“I’ve spent twenty-eight years doing what everyone around me expected me to do…being what everyone around me has expected me to be. And it’s horrid to be someone else’s vision of yourself.”
It Happened one Autumn
Wallflowers #2
by Lisa Kleypas
You can’t go wrong with Lisa Kleypas, but the book I always reach for when I need a pick-me-up is It Happened One Autumn. It’s mixture of humour, romance and friendship always leave me feeling like I have had a warm hug. Plus, drunken library scene. Hilarious.
“I can’t get it out,” she said.
“Just pull at it.”
“It hurts. It’s throbbing.”
“Pull harder.”
“I can’t! It’s truly stuck. I need something to make it slippery. Do you have some sort of lubricant nearby?”
“No.”
“Not anything?”
“Much as it may surprise you, we’ve never needed lubricant in the library before now.”
The Sugar Queen
Standalone
by Sarah Addison Allen
I just love this book. It isn’t strictly romance, although romance is a big presence in the book, but Sarah Addison Allen is magical with her words; she makes the everyday things enchanting. Reading this book is like a hot cocoa on a stormy night, comforting and warming, and I always look forward to reading it again.
“Like magic, she felt him getting nearer, felt it like a pull in the pit of her stomach. It felt like hunger but deeper, heavier. Like the best kind of expectation. Ice cream expectation. Chocolate expectation.”
Those were my comfort reads, what are yours?
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Many good options here. But you left out JILL SHALVIS!!!! She always gives me the comfort, everything she has written. The new Green Mountain series by Marie Force is in that mold as well.
I’m really big on anything by Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs and the Other series by Anne Bishop. Things I know I will enjoy so I can relax and read. Devon Monk, Faith Hunter and Shannon Mayer are in that group, too. Anne
Greats adds to the list Anne! Thanks!
Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series, A Breed Next, Tempting Seals series, Wild Card and Maverick all by Lora Leigh, Cowgirl Up And Ride by Lorelei James, Knight by Kristen Ashley…
I haven’t read any of these before O.o might have to add a few to my list now. Anything by G.A. Aiken is on my warm&fuzzy list. lol
Yes, I’ve reread Sarah MacLean’s books many times!
I haven’t read any of the books on the list but I do have some on my wishlist and TBR pile.
Great titles Suzanne!More books on my TBR 😀
My comfort reads are Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and The Bride by Julie Garwood 🙂
Great list….and when I need something to make me smile I will also go for a julia quinn or katie macalister book
The entire Sarah Maclean’s series is worth reading again!
I love It Happened One Autumn, but The Devil in Winter is my favorite from that series.
The wonderful thing about books is there is so much to choose from. There is something for everyone and everyone finds “comfort” from something different. My comfort reads – The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton and the Twilight Sage by Stephenie Meyer. Go figure. But, I read both at least once a year – the print versions no less. Everything else is electronic any more. But for these, I need the actual print book.
The entire Psy-Changeling and Kristen Ashley books are my comfort reads. However, the Psy-Changeling series is one of the few books that can pull me out of a reading slump. 🙂
I love my comfort reads. I am going to have add Charlie Cochet’s THIRDS to my list!
What an amazing list!!! LK and SM are definitely go-to authors when it comes to comfort reads. And you’re right, every list must have 1 KA book on it as well. 🙂