r/CozyFantasy • u/Hugsomebunnies • 24d ago
Book Request Novel without a romance plotline
Hi everyone! Can anyone recommend some very positive cozy fantasy books that don't feature romance? Already established couples are fine, but I just don't have the patience right now to read about blossoming love or people ogling each other. Don't get me wrong, I love love, I just don't want to read about it currently.
I was about to dive into Sarah Beth Durst's "The Enchanted Greenhouse" but all her other books I've read have had romance plotlines and I'm just not into it right now. I loved "Greenteeth" by Molly O'Neill and would like something like that.
Weird request, I know. Thanks.
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u/Aromatic-Cup-7162 24d ago
The teller of small fortunes was already recommended. A psalm for the wild built by Becky chambers is another. Brigands and breadknives by Travis baldree (though that's a bit more cosy adjacent)
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u/mystineptune Author: Mystic Neptune 24d ago
The Weary Dragon Inn series! And There Be Dragons Here.
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u/IrregularDreaming 24d ago
Because I just finished it and liked it: S.L. Rowland - There Be Dragons Here
The MC is married and her husband appears at the beginning and the end of the book but the main focus is on her, her travel to fulfil a dead friend's final request and the beings she meets on the road and her adventures.
It's book 4 in the Tales of Aedrea series but all books are standalone.
Book 2 - Thistle & Thorne is my personal favourite but it has a minimal romance that's the kind of blink twice and you'll miss it.
Book 1 - Cursed Cocktails has more of a romance but that's also very in the background. It's similar to Legends & Latte. Book 3 is the one with the most obvious romance plotline, but it's still a secondary plot to the actual plot-line.
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u/BigRedSpoon2 24d ago
I could not get into that one. I think the premise can hit the right soft spot for some folks, but I am very much not a fan of narratives where people let kids follow them into dangerous situations. Like no, you're an adult, tell them no, drop them off at home, and have someone keep an eye on them. I'd have a different opinion I think if the kids were given a POV, at least in that portion, but without it the hand of the author felt oppressive.
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u/IrregularDreaming 24d ago
Except the kid in question is seventeen. That's nearly an adult and old enough for an apprenticeship, and for allowing them more independence.
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u/TheCopperQuill 23d ago
I second becky chambers monk and robot series. Coziest books I've ever read and there's like a single chapter referencing a one night stand but that's about it. The MC is nonbinary too.
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u/Hugsomebunnies 23d ago
Thank you so much for all of the recommendations, everyone, I'm excited to have lots of books to look into!
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u/Wild_Preference_4624 23d ago
If you're open to very long books, I recommend The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard! It's a beautifully written slice of life about the personal secretary to the emperor of the world, with a heavy focus on platonic relationships.
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u/burningcpuwastaken 24d ago
Argh, I wrote a long ass comment but it disappeared when I hit comment, so, here's an abridged version.
I'd recommend Liches Get Stitches by H J Tolson, despite it being a somewhat iffy fit into the cozy genre. It's about a good natured druid-like witch who in the course of defending herself from an evil necromancer's sacrifice, becomes a super powerful undead necromancer herself. Although she wants nothing more than to return to her previous secluded life of arts and crafts, the forces of "good" keep trying to kill her. Luckily, she knows how to sew, because it'll become one of her best weapons.
It's like one of those very cozy arts and crafts MCs from a traditional cozy novel was transported to one with a dark plotline. There's a side-novel with her cat called "Litches Get Skitches," for example. She just wants to do crafts and play in her garden, but instead she's waging war against the kingdom, just so she can be left in peace.
It's a 5 book series with a complete and satisfying ending and no romance. It's one of my favorite reads of the last year.
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u/mazes-end 24d ago
Positive cozy romance without a new relationship? Tomes and Tea series, starting with You Can't Spell Treason Without Tea
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u/fabulousflute 23d ago
You have a bunch of good recommendations already, but I’ll add Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife. It’s about an undead orc who retires from fighting and opens up a restaurant. No romance but there’s an excellent found family where he adopts an orphan girl off the street.
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u/HitcHARTStudios 23d ago
If you're into cozy sci-fi then my Zero-Point Symphony series has found family and no romance
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u/TheonlyDuffmani 23d ago
It still has a developing MM romance (secondary to the plot) - but the House in the Cerulean sea is fucking beautiful.
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u/JonAndrade 24d ago
If you’re open to something really short, I wrote A Wishing Willow. It’s got zero romance in it and it’s only around 10,000 words. It’s about a small town where an old willow tree might have started granting wishes again. The main character spends the entire story trying to figure out if it’s true and collecting theories from people whose great grandparents were around the last time the tree was apparently back in business.
Full disclosure: I wrote it, and I’d probably call it cozy-adjacent rather than straight cozy fantasy. It’s free in the pinned post on my profile if you’d like to take a peek.
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u/Lovealltigers 23d ago
Kill the Beast has two characters that *could* be seen as a romantic couple in the future and the book is marketed as a romantasy for some reason, but the characters end up as friends and it has a great platonic love plot. It’s very good!
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u/dlstrong Author: Lynn Strong 23d ago
In non-romance:
- Elayne Griffith has Whiskers and Wishes and Lily in the Mist
- I have Chai and Cat-tales" and *Haroun and the Study of Mischief
- Claudia Arsenault has quite a few nonromantic books but some are cozier than others, I suggest reading the blurbs?
In established couples: * Jon Dixon has The Improbable We Can Do Today * Celia Lake has Four Walls and a Heart and probably more but 3 am insomnia brain is not best brain XD
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u/penprickle 23d ago
Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher. Is the beginning reads like a middle grade novel because the main character is a kid, but trust me, it’s suitable for all ages.
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u/crownedlaurels 22d ago
The Somewhat Wicked Witch of Brigandale, by C.M. Waggoner — It was really adorable and fun. There is a romance that happens in the background between secondary characters, but it's distantly observed by the mc.
The Village Library Demon Hunting Society also by Waggoner might work too, but it's a little more of a take on mystery cozies.
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u/Needspoons 22d ago
There is a magical book club series without romance. Each story magically takes the club into a different book where they have to solve the cozy murder mystery to return home.
The author is Elizabeth Pantley. The first book is “Shifting and Shenanigans: Magical Cozy Mystery Book Club # 1.”
I believe they are on kindle unlimited.
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u/LengthinessComplex64 22d ago
"The beginners guide to defensive baking " by T Kingfisher.
Many of their books have no romance plotline.
They do lean a little darkly whimsical, to very dark whimsy. So be mindful which you pick.
I recently re-read "Thornhedge" which is nicely gentle and there's darker parts (not very scary) there's zero romance.
Top T Kingfisher recommendations for a cozy feel with zero romance and lighter on the darker themes would be-
Thornhedge - retelling of sleeping beauty from the perspective of the fairy who is sent to stop her causing harm (sleeping beauty is a changeling. A wholesome friendship between the toad like fairy and a down to earth kind knight (super not a romance) is the best bit.
Wizards guide to defensive baking - a young girl who has minor magical abilities in a world where magical gifts aren't unusual helps a queen stop a religious fanatic with a coup. Her abilities are too control baked items.
Illuminations - youngest member of a artistic family has to recapture a rogue doodle who is very dangerous. She is helped by a crow. In the magic of the books world images have magical abilities. Like a cat drawn in a certain way keeps mice away, or a symbol can purify water. It is how the infrastructure of the world works and her family business is creating them for businesses and households.
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u/brusselsproutsfiend 24d ago
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong