Fun and Light-Hearted Reads for Anxious Times

Hello readers!

These aren’t the best times for anxious people, and we all try to deal with is in different ways – I particularly enjoyed reading Severance, by Ling Ma during this time, but I admit reading this kind of book during our current times might be a bit too much for some readers. If you’re looking for fun, light-hearted books, here are some that I found very soothing! A few of them are romances, thankfully the romance genre completely Gets It that sometimes all we need is low stakes fluff. I hope you enjoy them, and let me know in the comments if you have more book recommendations!

[Edit 04/04/2020] This post ended up published before I finished due to my conflict in personal appointments, so I’ve edited now most of the content below! Enjoy 🙂

Other bloggers have posted their lists, too, which are pretty cool:

Callum McLaughlin – Let’s Recommend | Feel-Good Nonfiction

Readable Life – MY TOP FIVE COMFORT READS

Reading Ladies Book Club – Lighter Reads During Stressful Times

Sourdough by Robin Sloan / Review

This has lots of baking, which seems to have become quite popular lately. It’s a lovely, lovely book about a woman who works a very stressful and high pressure job, and finds in food her comfort. She then received a mysterious starter and begins baking, which is when she discovers her passion for it. This is one of my favorite reads of all time! Bread, spicy food, lowkey romance, a woman in tech? I love this.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim / Review

Although the writing is a bit too choppy for me, this is still such a lovely book. It tells the story of Natalie, who wants to own a restaurant one day and, upon the sudden death of her mother, finds herself the sole heir of her grandmother’s restaurant and a book with her recipes, which she must cook to help save her neighborhood from gentrification. It’s got a bit of magic, lots of comfort food and made me so hungry! It never feels like things are too high stakes, so it’s a nice, light read. Also the author has a new book out this Fall called Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop, so if you like this book, there’s another one for you to pick up soon!

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams / Review

This is hilarious. It’s the story of a couple whose love story seems to be heading to an end after a whirlwind romance that led them to marry too quickly. To try to save their marriage, the husband joins a book club that reads exclusively romance books, in order to learn how to romance his wife into loving him again and staying together. Second chances, romance, soft men? I loved this! And there’s a second book that came out recently, and a third one coming out soon, respectively: Undercover Bromance and Crazy Stupid Bromance.

Proper English by KJ Charles / Review

This is ADORABLE. A F/F historical love story set with the background of a murder mystery, where the story is not about them fighting homophobia, but just cutesy banters and gorgeous bosoms.

My Lady  Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows (The Lady Janies) / Goodreads

This has to be one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. I was reminded of this book by Dani’s recent review of it. The humor is rather ridiculous and it’s not anywhere near historically accurate, if that is what you’re looking for! It’s more of a fantasy/alternative history/bonkers book about Jane Grey and her marriage to a stranger, who turns out to be – well, I let you read the book and find out.

When Dimple met Rishi by Sandhya Menon / Review

I read this a few years ago, but it was so cute and lovely and summery! Dimple is a tech girl, which I love, and her parents send her to a tech camp she’s been dying to go to – only to meet Rishi, the boy they want to arrange her to marry one day. Rishi knows this, and is ready to charm Dimple, who has NO CLUE about any of this at all. It’s a really cute book, and Rishi is so adorable.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han / Review

More baking! Lots of that in this list, it seems! This book is, by now, quite famous, and for a good reason: it’s such a feelgood, not too high stakes story, and Lara Jean is absolutely adorable. She bakes when stressed, is really quirky and loves dressing vintage. It’s a fast and fun read!

The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend / Goodreads

I guess there are lots of middle grade fun, light-hearted reads, but I don’t actually read MG a lot because it’s not really my preferred age range. But after this has been so hyped, I simply had to pick it up, and it’s adorable! It has adventure, magic and fun, and made me feel warm inside much like when I first read Harry Potter in my childhood!

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard / Goodreads

A YA romance that made me actually squeal out loud from how cute this is. A girl with selective mutism and a deaf boy fall in love and find ways to communicate, and with the patience and love they have for each other, she starts feeling brave and like it will all be alright. So cute.

The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig / Goodreads

This book series legitimately makes me happy just by thinking about them. This is so magical, it’s about Christmas and there are elves and fairies, what else do you even need in a book?

Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen / Goodreads

A relatable comic if I ever saw one, and so funny! A quick, fun read that will definitely leave you feeling warm and cozy!