The nights have begun to draw in, pumpkin spice fills the air, dads are guarding thermostats up and down the country, and editor Beth has a cold – that’s right! Autumn is here!

And here at the Hive, we couldn’t be happier! There’s nothing we love more than snuggling up with a blanket, a hot drink, and of course a book.

But which book??

Well we’ve rounded up the team and asked them to recommend the perfect titles to get cosy with. It could be a book set in autumn, a witchy read, a book featuring Halloween in some way, a fantasy romance, or just anything that’s ultimately feel-good and has cosy autumnal vibes. If you end up picking any, please let us know! 

it’s the best form of literary brain bleach when I need it!

Kat 

My go-to cosy Autumn reads are always Garlic and The Vampire and Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen. These are a graphic novel duology about an anxious bulb of garlic brought to life by a witch who needed more help tending her garden. The artwork is delightful, the characters are adorable, and it’s the best form of literary brain bleach when I need it!

the ultimate magical read to cosy up with on a cold autumn night

Nils

I would recommend The Grimoire Grammar School PTA for a really fun autumn cosy read! This is a book I’m sure parents, carers and teachers will easily relate to and feel seen.We have a small town, a family settling into a new home and we have a school for magically gifted creatures and a werewolf preschooler! Yep that’s right, Grimoire Grammar is also a tale about werewolves, sorcerers, cloud boats, grumbling ghosts and a prophecy of doom. Rozakis’ juxtaposition here of a very raw representation of a contemporary new mother and the array of bizarre magical elements was just fantastic!

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst is also a fab cosy autumn read. This is a story about a lonely librarian waking up on an island with a magical greenhouse which upon exploration has further greenhouses inside—full of wonders and delights. There’s miniature dragons, sentient plants, a cosy cottage and a lovely romance. This is the ultimate magical read to cosy up with on a cold autumn night with a blanket wrapped around you and a hot chocolate in your hands. 

full of cheer, atmosphere and wonder – and with fantastic happy endings

Cat

This year my autumn recommendations are easy: Scary in Love by Holly June Smith, and A Nest of Magic by Kate Moseman. The former is a fantastic spooky romance between a haunted house actor and a young goth (which this Old Goth Auntie absolutely approves of!); the latter a super-cosy sapphic tale of a librarian and the magical forest lady she discovers in the stacks! Both are perfect for this season, full of cheer, atmosphere and wonder – and with fantastic happy endings. Grab your warm beverage and blanket and enjoy! 

ridiculously cozy

Gray

I am legally obliged to represent LitRPG so I’ll have to recommend the ridiculously cozy Sacred Cat Island by Harmon Cooper. While most LitRPG books draw inspiration from games involving dragons and the slaying thereof, Sacred Cat Island draws more from games like Harvest Moon and particularly from Animal Crossing. A game so cozy that it made the pandemic pleasant for a while.

If you’re looking for something a little less Modern then my recommendation is always going to go to Roger Zelazny’s final and favourite work; A Night in the Lonesome October. A clash between fictional Victorian characters from across gothic fiction all attempting to assemble the components they require to perform a Lovecraftian ritual on Halloween night that may or may not grant them supreme power. Which I’ll admit doesn’t sound terribly cozy, but it is told from the perspective of the respective ritualists familiars. Animals who are treating their jobs as exactly that. Jobs. They’re all on good terms with one another, treating their bosses like the idiots they are throughout. Zelazny seems to be a bit of a hard sell for contemporary readers, but this is his most accessible work by far.

a warm hug of a book that has you empathising all the way for the lead character

Vinay

While I generally don’t dabble much on the cozy side (the darker the better), I do admit to venturing out to those waters when things get too heavy or when a change of pace is needed in general. One such book that has always worked for me has been The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. This is a warm hug of a book that has you empathising all the way for the lead character, who at heart is a decent soul thrust into a situation where he is lost and just looking for guidance while trying to do the right thing. 

2025 had a pretty cozy novella that had me grinning all the way. Sean O’Boyle’s Checks, Balances and Proper Procedure in Monster Hunting dealt with the bureaucratic side of monster hunting and how to deal with collateral damage that arises due to the aforementioned monster hunting. This novella is entirely charming in a Rashomon meets the School of Unintended Consequences meets Immovable Bureaucracy.

a smutty little novella with a lot of heart

Emma

I tend to read a lot of cosy, spicy books so it was hard to whittle it down, but I think The Mabon Feast by C.M Nacosta might tick all the boxes. A solitary witch called Ladybug gets a new mysterious lodger who happens to be a spider guy.  Obvious trigger warnings for arachnophobes aside, it’s a smutty little novella with a lot of heart. 

If you’re not into spicy and just want that cosy romance, I can wholeheartedly suggest A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic by J Penner. Imagine The Great British Bake Off but with magical creatures and you’ve hit the nail on the head. Warning, it will make you ravenous for all sorts of baked goods, but the plus side is that recipes for some of the treats are included at the end of the book. 

It’s wonderfully warming and utterly magical, and will definitely give you that comforting cosy feel.

Beth

Wow, plenty of brilliant recommendations so far, and nicely varied within the cosy genre! And seeing as I’m going last, I’m not just going to stick politely to two like everyone else did…

First up, it’s Alex Knight’s Wriggly Little Hands. It might not be typically cosy, it’s quite action packed with lots of adventure, but I’d argue there’s an undeniable cosy feel to Oli’s outlook on life and his determination to treat every stranger as a friend he hasn’t met yet.

Next up, Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis. Here we have a Dark Lord who has woken up with amnesia and can’t remember he’s a Dark Lord… Cue a castle of creatures relieved they no longer have to keep up a pretence of evil, a goblin cook thrilled at the opportunity for more baking, and the organisation of a garlic festival! Which definitely feels right for that sort of harvest/beginning of Autumn feel.

If the season is the key thing to put you in the cosy feels, The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang is a great example of this. The eponymous market only turns up on the first day of the monsoon season, and you can only enter with an invitation. But once you’re in, you can find your dream life and swap it for your own. Accompanied by an animal companion, Serin explores the market, sampling different potential lives, attempting to find one that will solve her problems. This is a properly heart-warming tale of making new friends and learning to appreciate what you have.

If you want to get properly downright cosy though, I’d have to recommend A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna. This one has it all. A cosy cottage filled with a found family, a budding romance, even weather. It’s wonderfully warming and utterly magical, and will definitely give you that comforting cosy feel.

Finally, speaking of comfort reads, we can’t talk about cosy reads and not include Diana Wynne Jones! Studio Ghibli’s adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle is my go to movie when I’m unwell, and likewise the original story is incredibly warming and comforting. DWJ’s storytelling has a nostalgic ring to it that makes me think of sitting beside the coal fire with my grandmother on stormy evenings as she made up stories of girls living alone in the woods befriending animals. There’s a timeless quality to Howl’s Moving Castle; its cobbled streets and witches, its traditions and persuasive magic, just screams homey and cosy.