Winter Book Recs | Books That Feel Like A Warm Hug in The Freezing Cold (7+ Books)
The air outside is not only cold but also frosty. As much fun it is to walk outside to enjoy the freezing cold with some good audiobooks. I prefer curling up with a blanket and a warm tea with a cozy book that will feel like a warm hug. Especially when you are feeling the winter blue.
So here are some of my favorite winter book recs that feel like a warm hug and will keep you cozy in these freezing cold. <3
Related to Winter Book Recs :
- 90+ Thriller & Dark Romance Book Recs to Get You Out of a Reading Slump <3
- Every Spring Book I Read in Spring 2024
- My Brat Summer Book Picks + Green Book Recs (14+)
- Fall Books I Want to Read This Autumn Season / My Fall TBR 2024
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
First off let’s begin with the book that I consider a warm hug in any situation, season or literally any time. And don’t worry only this one is a different one and rest of the books in this rec are almost sweet rom coms.
Little Women follows the march sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy who live in a small town in Massachusetts during the Civil War. All of the sisters are very close but different in their own way. The eldest sister Meg, the hopeless romantic, kind hearted and very practical simple, then Jo is the free spirited, hopeful writer who wants independence and change, the third sister beth is the shy and sweet sister who loves music and lastly the youngest, Amy the artist in the family and also my favorite because of her energy “I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.”. How can I not love her?
The book explores themes which capture family bonds along with love and loss alongside ambition and female societal challenges that were active during the 19th century. The book can take readers on a journey about becoming an adult while discovering their life purpose alongside discovering the value of close female relationships. Which is one of the reasons I consider this book the ultimate epitome of girlhood and how a warm hug feels like.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
If you like Gilmore girls, which is literally the coziest show of our generation and feels like a warm hug (reason why I chose the picture for this post’s thumbnail). You will like this book. This book also explores the themes of sisterhood, female relationships, grief, family dynamics while telling the story of Nora Stephens.
A 30 something ambitious, career driven woman who gives herself completely to her literary agency work in her role as a highly successful agent. Three aspects make up Nora Stephens’ universe: her work and her sister Libby together with her nieces. No matter how busy and focused she is on her work, she can never say no to her sister. And when she requests Nora to come with her for a girls trip to a small town called “Sunshine Falls” before her 3rd baby arrives she decides to accept it.
As soon as they reach the place and settle in, Nora bumps into Charlie Lastra, New York City-based editor who reached out to Nora because of their tenuous unresolved past which had never progressed beyond avoiding each other. Their tense dynamics aside they share fundamental knowledge about one another. The novel unpacks Nora’s bond with her friends and shows how she transforms through self-discovery while following her complex relationship with Charlie.
Nora’s developing motivations stand at the center of the book as readers can witness her authentic self rising to the surface completing a journey that many readers experience in their own sister dynamics.
You, With a View by Jessica Joyce
I never thought I would actually find a book that felt like a warm hug in the darkest time of my life. Most people might have loved and rated this book for the romance but for me it was everything I needed to survive 2023. I lost my grandma that year just like Noelle in the book and had a really hard time coping with grief. I related to Noelle in so many ways and it was so comforting to read every single word in this book.
This book is about Noelle Shepard who was really close to her grandma and recently lost her. While going through her things, she found a letter and a few photographs which might be her gram’s young love. In order to find out the truth she posts about that on TikTok anonymously and the next morning her phone was blowing up with notification as the video got viral.
At least her video got to the right person who might help her discover more (orrrr maybee too right as the person happened to be her old successful college nemesis “Theodore Spencer” she hates) despite her hate ness she meets his grandpa “Paul” the man from gramps letter and discovers he and gram used to date back in college and they wanted to elope and go to their dream honeymoon road trip and be together forever but sadly couldn’t. So, Noelle decides to fulfill her unfinished dream and go on a road trip by herself and document the whole thing but Paul and Theo also decide to join her.
As they begin their journey Noelle finds more about gram and Paul as he gives her a letter everyday, she starts photographing again which she didn’t have enough courage to resume after her grams death.
I loved every single thing in the book, the grief, letters, memories, found family, banter, the second chance romance everything was absolutely perfect. I will never have enough words to describe this book and how much it means to me but I know it will be my favorite forever.
Out On a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young
Sweet nothing by Taylor Swift feels like a warm hug in a song. If I had to choose a book that describes both together it would be Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young. It’s a book that has strangers to lovers, accidental pregnancy romance with disability reps. It follows Winnifred McNulty and Robert Durand, short for Win and Bo, who had their meet cute at a Halloween party dressed as pirates. But as life pushes them into an uncomfortable situation, which none of them were prepared for, they find some peace and comfort in each other.
The book explores the themes of unexpected parenthood, self-acceptance, and finding love in unconventional ways while having the best disability representation. Even if you don’t like the most hated booktok trope, I recommended it because this book will actually make you feel good and you might feel it’s giving you a warm hug,
Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington
How can any of my book recs be completed if I dont any sad, dark or the most gut wrenching book in it?. Yes, I can still pick a book that has all of this while it will feel like a warm hug. Well, after making you go through the most traumatizing and painful, emotional rollercoaster of course.
Charlotte Richard’s life is crumbling and she no longer wants to survive this cruel world and decides to end everything on her birthday only to find the loner emo boy from her class, Kellen Marchetti for the same reason on the rooftop. But they spend a few hours together and decide they are gonna fight their demons and check on each other every year on the same day, in the same place.
As they meet every year they discover more about themselves, grow attached but stick to their plan of keeping on surviving. But Charlie heals and Kellen suffers in silence. Four years later Kellen breaks his promise and leaves Charlie in this cruel world all alone but she decides to live and get better alone.
Few years later she accidentally meets Kellen’s brother Tate and they both discover more about Kellen through his letters and work together to make his dream come true. As they work together they bond with their grief and find peace in each other. And their grief and healing journey was equally heartwarming and comforting that it will make the reader forget what kind of roller coaster of emotions they were feeling and by the end it will feel like a warm hug.
The book is divided in 3 parts which are set in two different timelines with multiple povs and also deals with many darker elements. So make sure to check out the trigger warnings before reading.
To All the Boys Trilogy by Jenny Han
And lastly the book trilogy that not only feels like a warm hug but also feels like home. With the release of Xo Kitty, season 2 everyone is in their To all the boys era again. Because we finally got to meet our Peter Kavinsky after 5 freaking years!!. So I am planning to reread the books while I do my annual rewatch of the all boys movies in february, I picked this trilogy for this book rec.
Here is the reading order. The movie adaptations are also based on this order and available on Netflix and I recommend reading or watching in this order.
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
- P.S. I Still Love You
- Always and Forever, Lara Jean
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a 3 book young adult contemporary romance book Series by Jenny Han. It follows Lara Jean Covey as she navigates her romantic adventures. Lara Jean has written love letters to every single of her crushes with the intention of never sending them and keeping it a secret. But one day all of the letters get mysteriously mailed. From her childhood first best friend to her first kiss to a boy she met at a summer camp, she has written a total of 5 letters. All 5 of them has received it.
If it was not embarrassing enough, it was definitely way more embarrassing and awkward when one of them is her sister’s ex and her then best friend. To make things normal she decides to offer Peter Kainsky, another guy who received her letter to fake date her which has mutual benefit for him too. And they come up with a plan and tag along and sooner it becomes something more real.
If you don’t want any spoilers I recommend skipping from here. But if you still want to know more about book 2 and 3 you are more than welcome!!
So, Book 2 begins to write after the first one. Lara Jean and Peter are officially a couple. As easy and tough Lara Jean thought it would be to fake date and pretend to be in love, it is way hard when everything is real. Especially when she receives a reply letter from John Ambrose McClaren, one of the boys from her letter situation from the first book. As he reappears in her life and her relationship with Peter gets complicated she is torn between her decisions.
Eventually Lara Jean sorts their things and enjoys their senior year before they head out for college. From class trip to New York City, prom with Peter, Beach Week after graduation, and her dad’s wedding to Ms. Rothschild, she has a lot in plate. But things don’t always go according to plans and might take different turns. As she tries to make her way through everything one by one, things keep getting complicated, mostly her relation with Peter.
Throughout the trilogy’s conclusion Lara Jean makes big life choices which include deciding about college and her relationship with Peter while she learns to focus on activities that matter most to her. Reading the books in the series or watching the movies might be too much but by the end it will feel like a warm hug and make you whole.
And that’s all the books for my winter book recs + books that will feel like a warm hug. Hope you will enjoy my picks <3
