Welcome, book friends!
If you’d prefer to listen to this book list, you can check out the full episode on The Bookmarks ‘n Blankets Podcast on your favorite podcast platform or listen below.
I invite you over to X (Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram to let me know what you thought of any of the books on my list, what you’re reading this month, or what new releases you are excited to read.
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What are Cottagecore Books?
Cottagecore books are stories that embody the cozy, pastoral, and nature-focused aesthetic of the cottagecore lifestyle. They often feature themes of slow living, simple joys, close-knit communities, and a strong connection to nature.
These books may include elements like:
🍄 Cozy Settings – Small villages, cottages in the woods, or idyllic countryside homes.
🌿 Nature & Gardening – Herbalism, foraging, farming, or tending to a lush garden.
📖 Wholesome & Comforting Vibes – Gentle storytelling, found family, and a sense of warmth.
☕ Baking & Cooking – Lots of descriptions of homemade bread, pies, and tea.
🧵 Handicrafts & Self-Sufficiency – Sewing, knitting, pottery, or other traditional skills.
💫 Cozy Fantasy or Magical Realism – Books often have a touch of everyday magic.
Why are Cottagecore Books Super Popular Right Now?
Cottagecore books are super popular right now because they offer an escape from the fast-paced, often overwhelming modern world. Here’s why readers are loving them:
🍃 A Comforting Escape – In a world filled with stress, hustle culture, and bad news, cottagecore books provide a cozy retreat. They allow readers to immerse themselves in slow, peaceful settings where life is simple and fulfilling.
📖 Cozy & Feel-Good Vibes – Many readers are drawn to books that feel like a warm hug. Cottagecore stories often focus on kindness, community, and self-discovery rather than high-stakes drama or intense conflicts.
✨ Cozy Fantasy & Whimsy – A lot of cottagecore books include a touch of magic, folklore, or fairy tale elements. It’s a way to experience enchantment in everyday life, making the world feel a little more magical.
🧵 Nostalgia & Simplicity – With themes like baking, gardening, and handmade crafts, these books evoke a longing for a simpler time—even if that time never really existed for most people. They tap into the desire for a slower, more intentional way of living.
💛 Found Family & Community – Cottagecore books often highlight the importance of close-knit relationships, whether it’s a small town, a magical household, or a group of outsiders forming their own family.
📱 Social Media & Aesthetic Appeal – Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have helped fuel the popularity of cottagecore through stunning visuals of dreamy cottages, cozy reading nooks, and nature-filled settings. Readers want books that match the aesthetic they love!
Cottagecore books feel like a balm for the soul, especially in uncertain times.
12 Spring Cottagecore Books I Want to Read
I have a mix of genres: Fantasy, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Middle Grade.
Fantasy Books:
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Genre: Fantasy | Mythology
Average GR Rating: 4.03
Read more on GoodReads
GR Description: Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests, and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.
Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.
The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.
But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.
After the Forest by Kell Woods
Genre: Fantasy | Fairytale Retelling
Average GR Rating: 3.79
Read more on GoodReads
GR Description: Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.
Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.
Greta has a secret, the witch’s grimoire, secreted away and whispering in Greta’s ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you’ve ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.
But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.
And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta’s magic—magic she is still trying to understand—may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn’t kill her first.
Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley
Genre: Fantasy | Fairytale Retelling
Average GR Rating: 3.82
Read more on GoodReads
GR Description: All the creatures of the forest and field and riverbank knew the infant was special. She was the princess, spirited away from the evil fairy Pernicia on her name-day. But the curse was cast: Rosie was fated to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a poisoned sleep-a slumber from which no one would be able to rouse her.
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Genre: Fantasy
Average GR Rating: 4.29
Read more on GoodReads
GR Description: Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives: they are determined that she know only contentment.
But Sorcha’s joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift—by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes the quest set to her by the Fair Folk and their queen, the Lady of the Forest, she will lose her brothers forever.
When Sorcha is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwaters and taken to a foreign land, she is torn between the desire to save her beloved brothers, and a love that comes only once. Sorcha despairs at ever being able to complete her task, but the magic of the Fair Folk knows no boundaries, and love is the strongest magic of them all…
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Genre: YA Fantasy | YA Asian Historical Fantasy
Average GR Rating: 4.10
(GR Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction 2022)
Read more on GoodReads
GR Description: Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.
Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods, and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.
But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…
Contemporary Fiction
Cottage by the Sea by Debbie Macomber
Genre: Contemporary Romance | Women’s Lit
Average GR Rating: 3.98
Read more on GoodReads
GR Description: Annie Marlow has been through the worst. Rocked by tragedy, she heads to the one place that makes her happy: Oceanside in the Pacific Northwest, the destination of many family vacations when Annie was a teenager.
Once there, Annie begins to restore her broken spirit, thanks in part to the folks she meets: a local painter, Keaton, whose large frame is equal to his big heart—and who helps Annie fix up her rental cottage by the sea; Mellie, the reclusive, prickly landlord Annie is determined to befriend; and Britt, a teenager with a terrible secret. But it is Keaton to whom Annie feels most drawn. His quiet, peaceful nature offers her both comfort and reprieve from her grief, and the two begin to grow closer.
Then events threaten to undo the idyll Annie has come to enjoy. And when the opportunity of a lifetime lands in her lap, she is torn between the excitement of a new journey toward success and the safe and secure arms of the haven—and the man—she’s come to call home.
In this heartwarming tale, Annie finds that the surest way to fix what is damaged within is to help others rise above their pain and find a way to heal.
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Average GR Rating: 4.09
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GR Description: Forty-four-year-old Alice Holtzman is stuck in a dead-end job, bereft of family, and now reeling from the unexpected death of her husband. Alice has begun having panic attacks whenever she thinks about how her life hasn’t turned out the way she dreamed. Even the beloved honeybees she raises in her spare time aren’t helping her feel better these days.
In the grip of a panic attack, she nearly collides with Jake–a troubled, paraplegic teenager with the tallest mohawk in Hood River County–while carrying 120,000 honeybees in the back of her pickup truck. Charmed by Jake’s sincere interest in her bees and seeking to rescue him from his toxic home life, Alice surprises herself by inviting Jake to her farm.
And then there’s Harry, a twenty-four-year-old with debilitating social anxiety who is desperate for work. When he applies to Alice’s ad for part-time farm help, he’s shocked to find himself hired. As an unexpected friendship blossoms among Alice, Jake, and Harry, a nefarious pesticide company moves to town, threatening the local honeybee population and illuminating deep-seated corruption in the community. The unlikely trio must unite for the sake of the bees–and in the process, they just might forge a new future for themselves.
Beautifully moving, warm, and uplifting, The Music of Bees is about the power of friendship, compassion in the face of loss, and finding the courage to start over (at any age) when things don’t turn out the way you expect.
Historical Fiction
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
Genre: Historical Fiction
Average GR Rating: 3.73
(GR Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Historical Fiction 2020 and Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Debut Novel 2020)
Read more on GoodReads
GR Description: Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.
One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England’s finest novelists. Now it’s home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen’s legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen’s home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society.
The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor
Genre: Historical Fiction
Average GR Rating: 3.85
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GR Description: 1917… It was inexplicable, impossible, but it had to be true—didn’t it? When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, claim to have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when one of the great novelists of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, becomes convinced of the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a national sensation, their discovery offering hope to those longing for something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war. Frances and Elsie will hide their secret for many decades. But Frances longs for the truth to be told.
One hundred years later… When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfather’s bookshop she becomes fascinated by the story it tells of two young girls who mystified the world. But it is the discovery of an old photograph that leads her to realize how the fairy girls’ lives intertwine with hers, connecting past to present, and blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, can Olivia find a way to believe in herself?
The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen
Genre: Historical Romance | Christian Romance
Average GR Rating: 3.94
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GR Description: On a rise overlooking the Wiltshire countryside stands the village of Ivy Hill. Its coaching inn, The Bell, is its lifeblood–along with the coach lines that stop there daily, bringing news, mail, travelers, and much-needed trade.
Jane Bell lives on the edge of the inn property. She had been a genteel lady until she married the charming innkeeper who promised she would never have to work in his family’s inn. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Jane finds herself The Bell’s owner, and worse, she has three months to pay a large loan or lose the place.
Feeling reluctant and ill-equipped, Jane is tempted to abandon her husband’s legacy and return to her former life of ease. However, she soon realizes there is more at stake than her comfort. But who can she trust to help her? Her resentful mother-in-law? Her husband’s brother, who wanted the inn for himself? Or the handsome newcomer with secret plans of his own . . . ?
With pressure mounting from the bank, Jane struggles to win over naysayers and turn the place around. Can Jane bring new life to the inn, and to her heart as well?
Middle Grade Books
The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Average GR Rating: 4.13
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GR Description: An inventive and fantastical reimagining of Anne of Green Gables—with magic and witches!—that explores found family, loss, and the power of a girl’s imagination.
Grace has never been good at anything except magic—not that anyone believes her. While other children are adopted from the orphanage, nobody wants Grace. So she decides to make a home for herself by running away and offering herself as an apprentice to the witch in the nearby woods. After all, who better to teach Grace to use her magic? Surely the witch can’t be that bad.
But the witch is that bad—she steals souls for spells and gobbles up hearts. So Grace offers a deal: If she can learn all 100½ spells in the witch’s grimoire, the witch will make Grace her apprentice. But if Grace fails, the witch can take her magic. The witch agrees, and soon an unexpected bond develops between them. But the spells are much harder than Grace expected, and when a monster from the witch’s past threatens the home Grace has built, she may have to sacrifice more than her magic to save it.
Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, this is a magical story of found family, loss, and the power of a girl’s imagination.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Average GR Rating: 4.01
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GR Description: At her birth, Ella of Frell receives a foolish fairy’s gift—the “gift” of obedience. Ella must obey any order, whether it’s to hop on one foot for a day and a half, or to chop off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not accept her fate…
Against a bold backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella goes on a quest to break the curse forever.