And the moon is in wax
Snuggled up in my bed
I reflect and relax.
I pick up my phone
Check the news, and I sigh
Realizing ‘fore sleep
We are all gonna die.
I’m not into comfort eating, not because I have willpower, but because I abhor going to the grocery store. My pantry supply is paltry, but my bookshelves are crammed full.
Forget comfort eating. It’s time for comfort reading.
Which Books Are Your Blankets?
Linus has his blanket, and I have my books. A comfort book is a book you return to again and again. You know the story; you know the ending. You know how it makes you feel and you want to feel the weight of the pages like a heavy down comforter. You feel safe reading your comfort book. The arms of the author embrace you and remind you that sometimes, even if it’s just fiction, everything will be okay. The Road is not a comfort book. A Little Life is not a comfort book. Little House in the Big Woods? Now that is a comfort book.
My comfort books are all historical romance. I need comfort and torn chemises.
Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
This books has two of my favorite tropes: Nerdy, bookworm heroine turns the head of a grumpy hero.
Any Regency connoisseur knows of Derek Craven. He’s rough and tumble, and when he says he will cut you, he means literally with a knife. Sara Fielding is a lady and an author, and the low-born Derek owns a gaming hell. Their worlds collide when Sara asks to observe the illicit activities at Craven’s for research. Craven is drawn to Sara’s sharp mind and wit, and Sara is drawn to Derek’s protective persona, hidden deep down under a tough exterior.
Comfort food equivalent: five cream cheese brownies.
Blaze by Susan Johnson
I love a Regency, but sometimes you want a different time period. In post-Civil War America, Jon Hazard Black is a Harvard educated, Absarokee Indian chief. He’s as rich as Blaze Braddock is spoiled. The tow lovers fight against her Brahmin family and villains trying to steal his land. Such sweet angst with sex under animal skins.
The first of the Braddock-Black series, this book has an epic feel, taking us beyond the drawing rooms of Boston into the woods of the Montana. And the books in this series get dirtier with each book.
Comfort food equivalent: two slices of Chicago deep dish
Sinful by Charlotte Featherstone
Not a Regency, but a Victorian romance. When rakes loved to ruin you under a working lightbulb. And then clean you up with dubious plumbing.
The Earl of Wallingford is the kind of guy Miami Sound Machine made a song about. Matthew is a bad, bad, bad, bad boy. After some shenanigans, he finds himself beaten and in the hospital, his eyes covered in bandages. Naturally, he falls in love with his nurse, the plain Jane Rankin.
Comfort food equivalent: plate of Thai shrimp nachos
Seduction by Amanda Quick
I come back to this book because the grumpy hero is older (older men are my jam), and I picture him as looking like Iain Glenn.
Julian, Earl of Ravenswood, is known as the Devil. He may have drowned his wife. Sophy agrees to marry him but only if he will allow her to pick the books she reads and he won’t insist on consummating the marriage until she gets to know him better. She wants to read while building up the UST. Same.
Comfort food equivalent: the crunchy edges of lemon pound cake
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
The elevator pitch for the book is crazy: The Duke of Jervaulx, stroke victim, escapes from an asylum with the help of Quaker Maddy Timms.
We all love a hot priest and the Duke loves a hot Christian pacifist. She is stubborn and he has a speech impediment. Chaste meets tortured and the sparks fly.
Comfort food equivalent: casserole dish of macaroni and cheese
