Amy Mae Baxter: Why is everything so cozy now?
When you think of ‘fantasy’, what comes to mind? Dragons, swords, breath-taking worlds with danger around every corner? I think that was the case for a lot of people until a couple of years ago: now, when you think ‘fantasy’, you might think of something a lot softer and squishier…
I am of course talking about cozy fantasy, one of the leading phenomena of the past few years of fantasy publishing. But wait, you cry. Cozy fantasy isn’t new! And you’d be right about that. Cozy fantasy as a genre stands on the shoulders of giants (Howl’s Moving Castle, anyone?). But what I’m particularly fascinated by is that audiences aren’t just interested in cozy fantasy these days, they can’t get enough of it: fantasy that doesn’t have the life-and-death consequences of being the chosen one, and saving the world. Stories about individuals who live beautiful lives usually relegated to background characters, are driving readers wild.
As a reader, I totally get it. The world outside is terrifying, and the thought of spending my spare time reading about more war and horror can sometimes feel overwhelming. As much as I enjoy reading stories that can be vicious and violent, I love being able to turn to authors like Sangu Mandanna, A. T. Qureshi and Lucy Jane Wood for engaging fantasy, where I know there’s a happily ever after guaranteed.
But as an author, I find it nerve-wracking. In my first novel, The Between-Worlds B&B, we follow Margo, an aimless teenager suffering extreme boredom on her summer holiday, who ends up locked out of her home one night. When she goes looking for somewhere to stay, she comes across a mysterious B&B that offers her a magical trip for a surprisingly low cost…
The temptation to raise the stakes was almost overwhelming. Maybe instead of just offering her safe refuge inside the B&B, it should threaten to trap Margo forever, or perhaps opening the wrong door to one of the B&B’s infinite rooms could lead to her perishing instantly. In my day job, I’m a book editor, and I spend so much time thinking about peril and driving the plot forward in the books I edit; even though I know as a reader that a book with no ‘life or death’ consequences doesn’t need to be boring, I couldn’t help but feel that maybe the B&B was missing something. Cannibalistic cat, maybe?
But The Between-Worlds B&B, like many books in the genre, isn’t meant to be about extremes. It’s not about a girl who is going to save the world or destroy it if she discovers magic. It’s about a girl who is lost, and how she finds herself by opening up to the magical people and opportunities around her.
That could make the book sound dreadfully boring, but to the right reader it won’t be, the same way my favourite cozy fantasy books are thrilling to me. In all of my favourite fantasies, there is action, romance, and a strange magical creature companion (I chose cat. Sarah Beth Durst’s sentient spider plant Kiela is a personal favourite in the genre). In my opinion, cozy fantasy is a fast-growing genre because readers want fantastical escapism with a happily ever after guaranteed, and I hope, in my capacities as reader, as much as an author, it continues to grow for many years to come.
The Between-Worlds B&B is published by Harper Fire on 7 May 2026
