Trying to warm up for a Winter’s Respite of reading

It’s been a very rough start to the new year in more ways than one(especially yesterday!) but fortunately there are some good things to look forward to, such as the first readathon upon the Seasons of Reading’s calendar. The whole month of February is known as Winter’s Respite (with our excellent host Michelle Miller holding a 24 hour reading event on one of the Saturdays) and for the most part, there are no set genre requirements.

With that in mind, my TBR here is mostly short and sweet; my first pick being book one of a Nora Roberts trilogy, The Next Always.

This beginning of the Inn Boonesboro series introduces us to the Montgomery brothers, who are restoring the title inn back to its former working glory.

The main story focuses on Beckett, the architect of the family who is also keeping an eye on his lifelong crush,Clare, now a widow raising three young sons while running an independent bookstore.

Can this long time friendship develop into a lasting love or are the two of them just caught in a right place, wrong time situation?

I have heard great word of mouth about these books yet only want to tackle the first one for this event and save the other two for a possible spring/summer read. Besides, this particular book might drive me into a Gilmore Girls binge watch(did you know Hulu now has GG on tap?) with all of this small town country inn charms:

Speaking of Gilmore, my next selection is the second book in Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series, The Cinnamon Bun Book Store.

When the book shop owner of the tasty sounding title establishment Hazel stumbles across a mystery among her own literary stock, she’s eager to liven things up with a bit of Nancy Drew action.

However, it does help to have a partner in such cases and as it turns out, good buddy and local fisherman Noah is more than happy to do some sleuthing with Hazel. Will this partnership lead to romance as well as a solution to the strange puzzle before them?

I did enjoy the earlier book in this series, The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, and yes, this definitely has Stars Hollow vibes, particularly when Rory was with Jess(as a high school romance, he was a train wreck but the older, maturer Jess of the later seasons is preferable to Logan, in my humble opinion!). Gilmore Girls rant aside, this should quite the relaxing read I need:

Finally, for some cozy fantasy flavor, I added The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields.

Unsure of her path in life, Marigold is willing to take up

the mantle of Honey Witch on the island of Innisfree, despite the curse  of never having romantic love that comes with the job.

Even while blossoming under the magical energies of the island’s flora and fauna, Marigold does start growing a bit lonely but with regular visits from local skeptic Lottie, the urge to break the curse becomes more important but just as dangerous to attempt. Yet, isn’t the chance at real love worth it?

I do love the rise of the cozy fantasy genre and this particular tale seems as engaging as any bee charmer out there:

There is still plenty of time to sign up for the Winter’s Respite readathon and I hope you join in for some page turning fun this freezing season. Much thanks to Michelle Miller for getting us all to start a new year of reading off right!

Oh and if you’re looking for some relaxing TV time this winter, I happen to notice that my local PBS station has been airing episodes of Lark Rise to Candleford on the weekends (it’s also available on Tubi).

If you are in the mood for a comfortable old school series with faces both old and new in British drama, this small town delight is definitely a warm cup of tea to savor on these upcoming winter nights: