We are all in need of some unwinding right about now – especially young adults stuck at home. And what better way to unwind and escape into a different, non-social distancing world than with some great, intriguing, cozy fiction? Ranging from dreamlike romance to dark and edgy sci-fi to enthralling true stories, here are some bingeable books that would be a great addition to any bookshelf.

So This Is the End: A Love Story by Alexandra Franzen 

A moving romantic drama: One more day. One more chance to tell your family how much you love them. One more chance to say goodbye to friends, listen to your favorite song, throw an epic party, feel the grass beneath your feet, or watch the sunset. How would you spend your time?

So This Is The End follows Nora Hamilton as she navigates her final 24 hours. She’s determined to do something meaningful and make every moment count.

Enter: Renzo. Ren, for short. Strong, compassionate, unfairly attractive, with a face that makes Nora’s stomach explode into stars. Their connection is immediate, with white-hot intensity. Nora is wracked with bittersweet joy and confusion as she realizes, “I’ve finally met the love of my life… on the last day of my life.”

Should she tell Ren the truth about her condition―tell him she doesn’t have much time left? How will he react? Is it unethical to allow yourself to fall in love with someone when there’s no possibility of a future together? Or is love a precious gift, no matter how long it lasts, even if it’s just for one day? View this book on Amazon!

 The Miracle of Saint Lazarus: A Mystery Twenty Years in the Making by Uva de Aragon

Miami, Florida 1992: A few weeks after Hurricane Andrew wreaks devastation and havoc across South Florida, a father and his infant daughter crash their car into a canal. The man’s body is recovered, but his baby girl is never found.

Twenty-three years later: After reports of alleged sightings of the girl, the case is reopened by police. Detective Maria Duquesne has been assigned to the case, but she has very little in the way of clues. Is it really possible that the girl has not died? Or is this simply the persistence of a desperate mother who will not accept the death of her daughter?

A cozy mystery with a unique lens: Author Uva de Aragón provides a multifaceted portrait of the Latino communities of Miami and Hialeah, creating an exciting thriller that will appeal to readers who enjoy mysteries with female sleuths.

Uva de Aragón has published a dozen books of essays, poetry, short stories, and the novel Memoria del Silencio, which is now offered in its first translation into English. Some of her short stories and a play have also been translated and appear in textbooks and anthologies such as The Voice of the Turtle, Cuba: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, Cubana, and Cuban-American Theater. The Miracle of St. Lazarus is the newest soon-to-be bestseller in her incredible literary career. View this book on Amazon!

The Atlantropa Articles: A Novel by Cody Franklin

In an alternate timeline, World War II never takes place. Instead, a plan is put into effect by Hitler and the Nazi party to drain the Mediterranean Sea. They promise fertile land, millions of jobs and endless energy. New land to be settled. Living space for a crowded continent. All of Europe came together and signed a treaty to realize this new world, it was called ‘The Atlantropa Articles’

Nazism Survives in A New Europe: by promising to bring endless energy through hydro-electricity and employing millions to build the dams, fascism only cements itself as a mainstream ideology. Hitler is seen as a modern Napoleon, one of the greats for his time. Nazism never disappears.

The Reich Remains Eternal: Two millennia later, the Reich run the world. Aryans have become a race of their own, out numbering their neighbors and ruling with a messianic passion towards Hitler. Europe has been united under the banner of the swastika.

The Sea Is Gone, the Promise Failed: But the plan of a fertile lush land was never realized. The project took decades longer than anticipated. By the time it is completed, what they find is a salty barren world. Now the Mediterranean Sea is a desert basin known only as the Kiln. Southern Europe has been abandoned. This is where Ansel’s story begins. A story of discovery, lies and false prophets. The Atlantropa Articles is an astounding science fiction, alternate history tale that will thrill and transport readers with its detailed world and startling intimacy.View this book on Amazon!

Savannah Runner: An Atlantropa Articles Novel (The Atlantropa Articles) by 

Step into an Alternative History: Cody Franklin’s latest novel introduces a world in which Europe is dying. In this fascinating and unfamiliar setting, we dive into the absurdity of civil war and the various facets of the politics between powerful empires and seemingly unimportant regions of the world. This story twines historical, political, and fictional aspects together seamlessly to create a page-turning read.

From world leaders to refugees: There is nothing like a rags to riches story—but what about riches to rags? By taking the once-powerful European empire and reducing it to nothing, Franklin takes us on a journey that explores the downfall of a prominent population. The people of Southern Europe have been forced to flee into central Africa. The land, though a refuge for some, turns into expulsion for the natives, and with the new wave of European colonization, corruption follows.

An unlikely hero: Dystopian worlds do not often contain your typical heroes, and this story follows suit with protagonist Mathis Travers. Travers was born in the midst of the corruption and chaos, and his story uncovers the relationship between the various political powers and reveals the reasons behind the fall of Europe.

Cody Franklin’s dystopian fiction novel, Savannah Runner, is another look into his previously-created world represented in The Atlantropa Articles. View this book on Amazon!

The Tarleton Murders: Sherlock Holmes in America by Breck England

Historical Fiction Thriller: The Tarleton Murders, the record of “one of those pretty little problems” Holmes solved in the pre-Watson years, has never been brought to light until now. The discovery of this previously unknown manuscript opens a window onto the mysterious early years when Holmes was struggling to set himself up as a “consulting detective”―a previously unknown profession. “I have often wished that I had notes of those cases,” Watson said of Holmes’s early work, and so do we! But in The Tarleton Murders we have an account written by a Watson before there was a Watson. An old schoolmate, now a Jesuit priest, comes to Holmes with an alarming coded message that menaces a respectable nun.

The Early Sherlock Holmes: So begins a frantic journey that takes Holmes and his friend from Rome (where they save the Pope) to Paris to London to Liverpool, across the Atlantic during the most dangerous hurricane in twenty years, to the backwoods of Georgia (infested by the Klan), and eventually into the midst of Atlanta’s highest society―with growing awareness of a plot that threatens the very existence of the United States. What Holmes called in his usual understated fashion “a pretty little problem” turns out to be “a pretty big problem” indeed! Along the way we encounter George Bernard Shaw, Joel Chandler Harris, Pope Leo XIII, the artist Mary Cassatt, Moriarty himself―and Moriarty’s wife! And in the midst of the fun we make some astounding discoveries, such as the true identity of Moriarty, the fate of the Vatican Cameos, and to top it all off, Mycroft’s schoolboy nickname.

The Tarleton Murders is just a corking good story that any mystery reader will love. View this book on Amazon

Lusitania Lost by Leonard Carpenter

History, romance, action. This is the final voyage of the Lusitania, the world’s fastest luxury liner, torpedoed by a German U-boat in the first year of the Great War.

Desperate to escape Big Jim Hogan and his murderous gang, Alma Brady joins a group of nurses bound for the Great War in Europe. Their ship is the Lusitania, the most celebrated luxury liner of 1915, with a passenger list of Broadway and Continental celebrities headed for certain doom. Aboard the Lusitania she meets Matthew Vane, a war correspondent who wants to find out what weapons may be hidden in the Lusitania cargo hold.

Even with the threat of German U-boats and the too-recent Titanic disaster, who can guess that the passengers aboard Lusitania face dangers more horrifying than any on the war-torn battlefields across the Atlantic? Nor does Alma realize how relentlessly her past will pursue her. And the lover she finds in a daredevil reporter may lead them both into even greater peril, or give rise…just possibly…to hope.

The author of the Conan the Barbarian series turns his novelistic eye to the real-life history of World War I in a “Titanic meets The Guns of August” spy thriller.

View this historical thriller on Amazon!

The Miracle of Saint Lazarus: A Mystery Twenty Years in the Making by Uva de Aragón

Translated by Kathleen Bulger-Barnett and Jeffrey Jeffrey C. Barnett

Miami, Florida 1992. A few weeks after Hurricane Andrew wreaks devastation and havoc across South Florida, a father and his infant daughter crash their car into a canal. The man’s body is recovered, but his baby girl is never found.

Twenty-three years later, after reports of alleged sightings of the girl, the case is reopened by police. Detective Maria Duquesne has been assigned to the case, but she has very little in the way of clues. Is it really possible that the girl has not died? Or is this simply the persistence of a desperate mother who will not accept the death of her daughter?

Author Uva de Aragón provides a multifaceted portrait of the Latino communities of Miami and Hialeah, creating an exciting thriller that will appeal to readers who enjoy mysteries with female sleuths.

View this mystery on Amazon!

 The Boyfriend Book by Michael Reid 

300 women sat down with Mike, and after three hours, 299 of them agreed that they never wanted a boyfriend again. The Boyfriend Book tells you why.

Before you open this book, ask yourself: Where am I now? What are my struggles? What sort of pain do I carry? What parts of myself have I lost? Then, figure out where you want to be. This book will get you there. The possibilities for rebirth and reinvention are endless—but it’s ultimately up to you to make it all happen. This book will help you find a way to go forward—to concentrate on yourself. Read it slow. Plant the seed. Let it grow.

The Boyfriend Book is a gripping collection of short stories, thoughts and poems from inspirational media influencer Just Mike The Poet. View this book on Amazon!

Dear Woman by Michael E. Reid

Inspiration Led By Poetry

Stop cutting yourself short: You must wear your crown at all times. If you were waiting on someone to give it to you, Dear Woman is here to inform you that you can give it to yourself. Every woman is a queen, especially you. Put your crown on and get ready to rule.

Take a journey: No one has just one page in their life story. That’s why Dear Woman has everything—quotes, letters, short stories, and poems to educate, motivate, encourage, and provide a little tough love. This open letter is just as multi-faceted and inspirational as you are.

Want the best for yourself: Michael E. Read wrote this book because he wants nothing more than for you to be the best woman possible, regardless of circumstance. In Dear Woman, he encourages you to feel the same way. This is more than a self-help book, more than just relationship advice for women—though it does include both of those things. No, this inspirational open letter, full of poetry and wisdom, is life advice just for you. View this book on Amazon!

 

Happy, Okay?: Poems about Anxiety, Depression, Hope, and Survival by M.J. Fievre 

Paloma is faking it. On the outside, she’s A-Okay. She’s electrified at work, there is a cadence in her step as she walks her dog, she posts memes on Facebook, and she keeps up with most relationships. Looks can be deceiving, however. Inside, Paloma is just going through the motions, and she feels like things are spiraling out of control. But when things are at their darkest, dawn arrives with clarity and focus, and with it, healing. Paloma learns to value small glimmering moments of joy rather than searching for constant happiness, thus building hope for her future.

Happy, Okay? is not simply a narrative spun in verse by a masterful poet. It is an invitation to readers to shake off the stigma and silence of mental illness and find strength in the only voice that matters: your own. View this book on Amazon!