3 cozy reads for the perfect study break
By: Anna Sullivan
While in the heat of midterms, homework and finals, it can be hard to find time for yourself. After staring at a screen for hours on end, you need a break for your eyes and brain. Social media only leads to doom scrolling, which is the last thing you need when you’re already overwhelmed. Not to fret, these 3 cozy reads are the perfect solution to help you unplug, relax and escape into other worlds. So put on your coziest loungewear, grab your softest blanket and turn the kettle on for some tea, because I have just the books for you!
The first pick is The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston. This heartwarming story of magical realism takes you on a journey of grief, love and self-discovery with a loveable protagonist named Clementine. Clementine is a book publicist with a great group of friends, a perfectly planned future and more passport stamps than the average New Yorker. Everything is going according to plan until she begins to fall for her mysterious roommate. He seems to be the man of her dreams but there's one problem. He lives seven years in the past. Surely her late aunt’s stories about the apartment weren’t true but as Clementine finds herself falling into the time slip, she wonders how far she will fall before she breaks. Ashley Poston, a New York Times bestselling author, delivers a cast of lovable characters, beautiful writing and descriptions that transform you into the very apartment that continues to slip back in time. After her critically acclaimed Dead Romantics, Poston has once again provided, as Emma Straub states, “A world that is off-kilter, romantic and irresistible”.
The next cozy read that will have you enthralled for all 320 pages is Tom Lake by Anne Patchett. While this book is not set in fall, like The Seven Year Slip is, it will warm you up with love and caring that pours out of this book. Set in the spring of 2020, Lara takes her family to their orchard in Northern Michigan as an escape from the pandemic. In order to pass the time while picking cherries Lara’s three daughters beg her to recount her infamous summer she spent with the star Peter Duke. Their mother and Peter Duke spent a summer acting and falling in love at a wonderful theater company called Tom Lake. While vicariously living through their mother’s past escapades, Lara’s daughters are forced to confront the realities of their own lives and learn more about their family than they ever expected. This novel explores love, heartbreak and healing through Anne Patchett’s compelling and profound writing. Marion Winik, of The Washington Post, wrote it best when she boasts over the love stories but highlights that a heart does break “but it breaks without affecting the remarkable warmth of the book”.
Lastly, to finish your reading marathon is The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes filled with mystery, intrigue and a little bit of danger. We are introduced to Avery Grambs, a run-of-the-mill teenager just trying to escape high school whose world is turned upside down due to the passing of billionaire Tobias Hawthorne. Avery has no idea why but Tobias Hawthorne has left his entire fortune to her on the condition that she lives in the mysterious Hawthorne mansion. However it does not come easily as Hawthorne House is filled with puzzles, disinherited family members and the illustrious four Hawthorne grandsons. Through her time in her new home Avery learns more about her new roommates and navigates the twists and turns that come with being a Hawthorne. With over 6 million copies sold this New York Times bestselling novel is perfect for a lover of puzzles, mystery and slow-burn romance. E. Lockhart says it best, author of We Were Liars, “Barnes is a master of puzzles and plot twists”. This nonstop page turner is impossible to put down and will have you reaching for the other two novels in The Inheritance Games trilogy, The Hawthorne Legacy, and The Final Gambit.
I hope that out of these three wonderful novels, you find a story that enthralls you and characters you can truly fall in love with. All of these books can be found wherever books are sold, but always remember to support local bookshops and be kind to your books, they love you too!
