You know those stories that just feel comfortable? Cozy? I probably have a different definition of cozy than most people when it comes to fiction. I believe cozy books are usually defined as “low stakes” stories, but that sounds vague to me. How low stakes is low stakes? Is death a taboo topic? Can there be violence? Is any hardship allowed? My list of questions goes on, and, in the end, I think that everyone would answer these questions a bit differently.
I wanted to write more shifter stories in the world of Trinity, but I wanted them short and sweet, so I came up with Thornapple Valley. Whereas other Trinity stories have plots that put quite a bit of emphasis on world problems like the shifter collector in Her Fierce Wolf or the hunter family in Hunter x Wolf, I tried to give those things a backseat in Thornapple Valley to focus on the romance and relationships.
There is a hunter in She Who Would Be Alpha, but that danger is taken care of in the first chapter, the reason for why the story is even happening. Does this mean She Who Would Be Alpha isn’t cozy? I think it is. It’s a story about finding family and love again and overcoming hardships, but you might have a different opinion of if this qualifies as cozy, and that’s okay! I hope, at the very least, Thornapple Valley stories are comforting, because that’s what I was going for without erasing difficulties.
Life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but the beauty of romance is knowing that it’ll all end in a happily ever after. I think that promise alone lands romance somewhere in the cozy space.
