Winter Tales From Cozy Vales (A Cozy Fantasy Collection #3)
by L.A. Scott, Selina J. Eckert, Miranda Herald, Phillip Sanderson, Bonnie Axton, G Clatworthy and Rebecca Buchanan
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: varies per story m/f and m/m romances are present
Blurb:
A delightful collection of cozy fantasy stories set in the coziest of worlds!Return to the queendom of Cozy Vales, where the winter holidays are once again in full swing!
This collection features tales set during Winter’s Tide, a two-week holiday of giving and gratitude that culminates with Lantern Night, an evening marked by the lighting of candles and the release of floating lanterns.
Explore the Cozy Vales holidays through seven different short stories:
A Salty Season – L.A. Scott
Leti and the Sugar Tassels – Selina J. Eckert
The Shapeshifter’s Lost Tome – Miranda Herald
The Festival of the First Frost – Phillip Sanderson
Leon’s Lantern Night – Bonnie Axton
A Perfect Present – G Clatworthy
The Fire in the Deep – Rebecca BuchananCozy Vales tales are low on stakes but high on adventure, excitement, mystery, and heartwarming storytelling!
My Review
I really enjoyed the first cozy vales winter collection, so was excited to start this one. Below I wrote my thoughts about each of the stories with a summary of my thoughts about the anthology as a whole below it.
A Salty Season – L.A. Scott
This one follows the same characters as L.A. Scotts story in the first winter collection, I haven’t read the non-anthology book in this series and I did notice that at first. Luckily I could still easily follow the story. It wasn’t the most engaging story, but I liked reading about the bakery and the winter tide celebration. The whole quest she went on to get the salt felt a bit off and the resolution for that felt a bit anti-climactic. On to the next one.
Leti and the Sugar Tassels – Selina J. Eckert
This was a decent story. Pretty straightforward, but it had that nice cozy vibe and I liked seeing Leti find a new place to belong. I did not like how she used to hide her brother in her bag. I liked how she wanted to help the friendly innkeeper. I appreciated how she grew throughout the story and the ending was well done.
The Shapeshifter’s Lost Tome – Miranda Herald
I liked reading more about the Aridia vale as it feels so different from most of the others with how it’s one large dessert and this one took place in a settlement underneath the sands, which was interesting. I liked getting a feel for their settlement and culture and the way they could shapeshift. Just wasn’t a big fan of the tome plot line. The author tried to make the main character feel responsible despite taking risks and not delivering the tome right away and it just didn’t quite work for me. The ending was great and I liked the nod to the main character from another story who lives in Aridia.
The Festival of the First Frost – Phillip Sanderson
This was a fun one. The main character is a pixie which was fun and she feels self conscious because of her bad nose and who she thought was her friend might not be. I like how she could help the vale out and how her nose and sense of smell helped her. I liked seeing her enjoy her vale and home and even finding more to enjoy there with a new possible found family.
Leon’s Lantern Night – Bonnie Axton
I really liked this one. It was such a fun story about Leon’s travels and him returning home for Lantern Night and the gifts he gave out. I especially liked seeing how his gifts made people happy. It was very uplifting and fun story and I liked how it involved the lives of multiple side characters we learned about a bit. This one was heartwarming and fun to read and it left me feeling happy when i finished. I didn’t realize until I finished that this was the same author as whose stories I enjoyed in the other anthologies. Definitely want to read more by this author.
A Perfect Present – G Clatworthy
I mostly enjoyed this one. The whole secret gift exchange was fun to read about and not something other stories dealt with before. I liked the main character and could relate to some of his struggles. I also liked how dedicated he was to finding the perfect gift for his crush. I am just a it conflicted about the ending, it felt realistic and I liked the hopeful note, but it also felt like there is more to the story and the story felt incomplete. I also wanted them to talk a bit more about the gift and the feelings. And I wanted to know which gift the main character got.
The Fire in the Deep – Rebecca Buchanan
I was so excited to realize this one continued the story about the floating vale. The other two anthologies had the earlier parts of this story and I think it’s most fun to read these in order. I was delighted to be back reading about this vale and this time with a new main character who dives deep into the sea to find some answers. I had fun reading this one and I liked how it tied in with the previous two stories, while still being it’s own adventure and story as well. Experiencing the underwater vale was fun. And there’s even a bit about how they celebrate Winter’s Tide there.
To summarize: I enjoyed the previous Cozy Vales anthologies and this one was no exception. It has that nice cozy and winter-y vibe. My enjoyment of the various stories varied a bit, with some I enjoyed a bit less and some that really worked for me, but overall I had a great time reading this anthology. Having the stories set in the same world and around the same celebration is a fun way to tie them together. I can definitely recommend this anthology to those who like the cozy fantasy genre.
That sounds pretty good.
It was a fun anthology.