To me, the coziest place in the world is a good bookstore — particularly one of the ones that has a maze of shelves and books piled around for what seems like miles, and ESPECIALLY if the shop has an air of mystery about it (and I get the feeling that once I leave I’ll never quite be able to find it again).  

Whether you want your bookshop to serve up mystery, magic, romance, friendship, or a second chance, there are plenty of options here to get you started. But don’t forget…. sometimes the real magic is in the search for just the right book. 

The Bookshop on the Shore, by Jenny Colgan 

Escape to the Scottish Highlands where a tiny bookshop perches on the edge of a loch. Zoe is a single mother, sinking beneath the waves trying to cope by herself in London. Hari, her gorgeous little boy, is perfect in every way – except for the fact that he just doesn’t speak, at all. When her landlord raises the rent on her flat, Zoe doesn’t know where to turn. Then Hari’s aunt suggests Zoe could move to Scotland to help run a bookshop… 

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan 

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco web-design drone – and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder has landed him a new job working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. After just a few days on the job, Clay finds that this store is even more curious than the name suggests… 

The Lost for Words Bookshop, by Stephanie Butler 

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you. But then into her hiding place – the bookstore where she works – come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Loveday realizes that someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets? 

Bookshop by the Sea, by Denise Hunter 

After her mother became bedridden and her father bailed on the family, Sophie found herself serving as a second mother to her twin brother, Seth, and younger sister, Jenna. Sophie supported her siblings through their college years, putting aside her own dream of opening a bookshop in Piper’s Cove–the quaint North Carolina beach town they frequented as children. Now, it’s finally time for Sophie to follow her own pursuits… 

The Printed Letter Bookshop, by Katherine Reay 

One of Madeline Cullen’s happiest childhood memories is of working with her Aunt Maddie in the quaint and cozy Printed Letter Bookshop. But by the time Madeline inherits the shop nearly twenty years later, family troubles and her own bitter losses have hardened Madeline’s heart toward her once-treasured aunt – and the now struggling bookshop left in her care.