soooo many people love this, but i have to say i really struggled with every decision and comment made by briana the entire book. she is constantly telling jacob, who struggles with social anxiety, how he feels and what he would be struggling with. when he says he wants to go somewhere with her, she tells him he is too anxious to do that, and when he tells her he isn't because she will be there, she doens't believe him. she's supportive and caring, but she infantalizes jacob and constantly says things about how he is feeling based entirely on assumptions she has made, and hardly ever actually asks him how he's feeling. and while the depiction of jacob's anxiety might be accurate and be very relatable to many, he never once tells brianna to stop telling him how he feels. he doens't even get uspet by it, it's like he doesn't notice, which was infuriating to me. if my partner was constantly telling me how i felt because of my anxiety, i would be mad. i hardly ever write reviews for books, especially when they're negative, but i have seen next to nothing negative in any other reviews for this so felt like i needed to get this out of my head and see if anyone else felt the same.

Post no longer in use as of 12/15/25. Please make suggestions here.

With the community growing quickly, I wanted to have a central location for all new book suggestions. If you think there’s a book that fits in this quest, make a new comment on this post!

What qualifies a book for this quest? The books in this quest are structured around a game or trial rather than just including games/trials somewhere in the book. The entire narrative is about preparing for the games, the games themselves, and the aftermath of the games.

Examples of books that would not fit despite including a game/trial plot point:

• The Will of the Many by James Islington
• The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
• The Poppy War by R F Kuang

While the games/trials in these books are important to the story, the books are not about the games/trials.

10/28/25 note: I am currently focusing on adding diverse voices to balance the quest a bit more.

Hi friends! I'd love to know - which book do you consider your cozy fantasy first love that piqued your interest in the genre?

For me, I think House in the Cerulean Sea was the first time I read cozy fantasy, but The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches was when I realized there's a whole genre to explore (which even contains books much cozier than either of those two!)