Hi! Does anyone have any recommendations for something cosy, maybe a bit of romance, set in a sleepy seaside town, ideally in autumn or winter? Thinking cold, stormy seas, wrapped up warm with a thick scarf kinda vibes 🧣☕ Bonus points if it's set in the UK, but triple bonus points if it's more precisely set in Scotland... Thank you! 📚 Happy reading!

I love reading romantasy and epic fantasy with romance. However, I do not wish to read or watch or hear anything related to romance for a while, as I am currently convinced love is purely fictional and I won't be able to experience it ever. (Today I got dumped via an AI-generated text. AI-GENERATED TEXT. Now I know that when someone is not ashamed of telling you the last time they willingly picked up a book was in middle school, that is a huge red flag. Such people lack not only the empathy to try to understand what the other person is feeling, but also the reading comprehension skills required to come up with a proper answer on their own. I dont feel even a little sad, it just feels like I just parted ways with ChatGPT. Good riddance I guess... I hope I am the first and last person to experience this, but I also know I wont be. I hate AI a bit more each day.)

It feels good to put my anger into words, but back to the purpose of this post: It is kind of hard to find books with absolutely no romance, especially in fantasy. If it won't be too specific to find, I would also very much like books that would make me laugh. I feel a reading slump approaching, so I would appreciate any help 😊

EDIT: I want to thank each and every one of you for all your recs and especially for your support! Your comments mean the world to me :) I realised once more just how much I like being a part of this community. Love you all 💙

I’d love to hear more perspectives on:

1. why you follow someone else on PB and
2. what types of interactions you typically have

I tend to follow people who have similar taste in books and/or a library that I can yoink from! I also pretty much 100% follow back anyone who follows me. I absolutely love following others that reciprocate likes/upvotes/comments.

For interactions, I ♥️ most of my friends’ updates and tend to comment on bigger milestones (leveling up, badges, etc.) unless they do not interact with me in that way. I don’t want to be a bother if someone else doesn’t find value in likes or upvotes, or doesn’t comment on others’ posts.

But then I sometimes get sad when I see users who follow me interacting a lot with others, but not me. If not friend, why friend-shaped?

So, what about you? Are you more of a yapper and not a liker? Does it hurt your feelings if someone follows you and doesn’t interact? And then what do you do - nothing, block them, or unfollow?

Anyway, I realized hearing perspectives and experiences from others could help give me insight into how we each utilize the “friend” portion of PB. As of right now, I’m only limited to my personal experience! Thanks for your thoughts. 💗✨

Where I live, everybody and their family is sick. I'm also currently knocked out with a cold and feel like shit. What are your go to activities (other than sleep) you do to pass the time? And if you're able to read, what genre are you gravitating towards?