By James Heppe-Smith · 12 min read
Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries hit a particular sweet spot: a prickly scholar doing careful fieldwork on the fae, a remote village slowly warming to her, folklore treated with real affection, and a romance that thaws one frosty page at a time. If that is the exact comfort you are chasing, the good news is that cozy fantasy has plenty more of it.
Here are twelve books that share Emily Wilde’s DNA: scholarship and folklore, gentle magic, atmospheric settings, and warmth that earns itself slowly. A few are obvious next steps; a couple are older treasures you may have missed.
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12 books to read if you loved Emily Wilde
1. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Start with the obvious. If you have only read the first book, the sequel gives you more of everything you came for: more fieldwork, more of Emily’s dry voice, and more of the slow dance with Wendell. The series is the easiest recommendation on this list because it is simply more Emily Wilde.
2. Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
A Regency faerie tale with a heroine missing half her soul to a faerie curse, which leaves her unable to feel fear or social embarrassment. It is funny, gentle, and quietly romantic, and it treats the fae with the same folkloric seriousness Emily Wilde does. Perfect if you want manners, magic, and a slow-burn courtship.
3. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
A lonely witch is hired to tutor three magical children at a rambling country house, and finds a found family she did not know she wanted. Warm, low-stakes, and built on the same comfort as Emily Wilde: a guarded outsider slowly let into a community.
4. A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
Edwardian England, a hidden magical bureaucracy, and a queer slow-burn between a put-upon civil servant and a magician. It carries a little more heat than Emily Wilde, but the period atmosphere and the competence-and-folklore blend will feel familiar.
5. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
A librarian flees a revolution with a sentient spider plant and a satchel of stolen spellbooks, then sets up a quiet jam-and-spells shop in her seaside home town. Pure cottagecore comfort, with the same affectionate, small-scale magic that makes Emily Wilde so soothing.
6. A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
A fourteen-year-old whose only magic is over bread dough has to save her city anyway. It is warmer and funnier than its premise suggests, and T. Kingfisher writes the kind of grounded, practical magic that Emily Wilde readers tend to adore. A great gateway to the rest of Kingfisher’s gentler work.
7. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The classic that much of modern cozy fantasy is quietly in conversation with. A young woman cursed into old age takes work keeping house for a vain wizard, and the whole thing is whimsical, warm, and wise. If you somehow missed it, Emily Wilde is the perfect reason to finally pick it up.
8. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
A wintry, folkloric standalone built around a moneylender’s daughter, a fae king of ice, and bargains with teeth. It is a touch higher-stakes than the rest of this list, but the deep folklore roots and the cold, glittering atmosphere scratch the same itch as Emily Wilde’s fieldwork in the far north.
9. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Set in a frost-bound medieval Russia where household spirits are real and slowly being forgotten, this is folklore as lived experience. Atmospheric and a little darker, it is for the Emily Wilde reader who loved the sense that the old stories are true and the cold is a character in its own right.
10. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
A by-the-book caseworker is sent to assess an orphanage of unusual magical children and finds warmth, queerness, and a home. Different setting, same heart: a closed-off protagonist let in by a found family. One of the most beloved comfort reads in the genre.
11. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
An orc barbarian retires to open a coffee shop. The book that launched a thousand “low-stakes fantasy” conversations, and still one of the warmest. If you want competence, community, and a quiet life hard-won, this is the cornerstone cozy fantasy read.
12. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
A wandering fortune teller who only tells small, true fortunes gathers an unlikely travelling family on the road. Gentle, wholesome, and quietly moving, it is a lovely recent addition to the genre and a natural fit for anyone who loves Emily Wilde’s mix of travel, warmth, and folklore.
Want a brand-new series to fall into?
If what you love about Emily Wilde is the blend of careful fieldwork, folklore, and slow-thawing warmth, you might enjoy The Last Route, our own cozy fantasy series. It follows Wren, a postal courier crossing the gentle, lived-in world of Aeldra, delivering letters and slowly building a life and a found family along the way. It is closed-door sapphic slow-burn, low-stakes, and folklore-rich, with a new instalment every couple of months. Start with Book 1 here.
Frequently asked questions
Is Emily Wilde cozy fantasy or romantasy?
It sits on the cozy side of the line. The stakes are personal and academic rather than world-ending, the tone is warm, and the romance is a slow-burn that builds alongside the story rather than driving it. If you want the difference explained in full, see our guide to cozy fantasy versus romantasy.
Are these books standalones or series?
A mix. Half a Soul, the Emily Wilde books, A Marvellous Light and Legends & Lattes all begin series, while Spinning Silver, The Spellshop and The House in the Cerulean Sea work beautifully as standalones. The table below notes each one.
What should I read first?
If you want the closest match to Emily Wilde’s tone, start with Half a Soul or The Spellshop. If you want the warmest possible hug of a book, start with Legends & Lattes or The House in the Cerulean Sea.
The reading list at a glance
| # | Title | Author | First published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands | Heather Fawcett | 2024 |
| 2 | Half a Soul | Olivia Atwater | 2020 |
| 3 | The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches | Sangu Mandanna | 2022 |
| 4 | A Marvellous Light | Freya Marske | 2021 |
| 5 | The Spellshop | Sarah Beth Durst | 2024 |
| 6 | A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking | T. Kingfisher | 2020 |
| 7 | Howl’s Moving Castle | Diana Wynne Jones | 1986 |
| 8 | Spinning Silver | Naomi Novik | 2018 |
| 9 | The Bear and the Nightingale | Katherine Arden | 2017 |
| 10 | The House in the Cerulean Sea | TJ Klune | 2020 |
| 11 | Legends & Lattes | Travis Baldree | 2022 |
| 12 | The Teller of Small Fortunes | Julie Leong | 2024 |
Looking for more? Browse our cozy fantasy reading lists or start The Last Route from Book 1.
Keep reading: Books Like The House in the Cerulean Sea, Cozy Fantasy With Found Family: 11 Heartwarming Reads, The Best Cozy Fantasy Books to Read in 2026.
James Heppe-Smith writes The Last Route, a planned 20-book sapphic cozy fantasy series, and runs Heppe-Smith Publishing. He reads more cozy fantasy than is strictly reasonable.