By Collection Management Librarian Kathy
I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT book you are waiting for or that you finally read and loved.
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping readalikes
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Why you should try it: A little romance, a little fantasy, a lot of heart—sound familiar? Plus, this book has a sentient spider plant.
Description: Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. Then a revolution begins, and the library goes up in flames. She and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home.
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
Why you should try it: The quirky ragtag group of adventurers in this cozy fantasy is completely endearing and will surely keep you reading.
Description: Tao, an immigrant fortune teller, lives in a wagon and roams the dusty outskirts of the kingdom of Eshtera. Fleeing a troubled past, she travels between villages telling only small fortunes. Life on the road can be lonely, but to Tao’s surprise, companionship comes unexpectedly. She encounters Mash and Silt, an ex-mercenary and semi-reformed thief. The oddball pair enlist Tao in the search for Mash’s lost daughter. Next, the trio finds Kina, a brilliant baker, and Fidelitus, a cat smart enough to mark the travelers as ready suppliers of fish. As they journey together across Eshtera, confronting small-minded villagers and philosophizing trolls alike, Tao’s unlikely new friends break down her walls and unravel her secrets.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Why you should try it: Cozy fantasies are really having a moment, and this just might be the title that spurred it on.
Description: Come take a load off at Viv’s cafe, the first and only coffee shop in Thune. Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start, filling mugs instead of swinging swords, are hardly a sure bet.
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto
Why you should try it: Less cozy but still whimsical, Sotto’s charming and intricate setting will hook you.
Description: On a back street in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see only a cozy ramen restaurant. And just the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets. Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike other customers. For he offers help, instead of seeking it.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Why you should try it: Because it is absolutely the sweetest, and I love it.
Description: Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management, he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
About Kathy
Kathy is a Collection Management Librarian who loves reading, sharing, and talking about books. Her missions in life are to create communities of readers, convince folks that her official title should be “Book Pusher,” and refute that “disco” is a dirty word.