Review: Winter Tales from Cozy Vales

Winter Tales from Cozy Vales (Cozy Vales Collection #1)
by L.A. Scott, Rebecca Buchanan, Selina J. Eckert, Deanna Stuart, Angela Stuart, Cassandra Stirling, K M Jackways, G Clatworthy, Nathaniel Webb and Bonnie Axton

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Age Category: Young Adult to Adult depending on the story
Type of romance: not all stories have romance, the ones that do have m/f

Blurb:
A delightful collection of cozy fantasy stories set in the coziest of worlds!

Grab your blanket and favorite hot beverage because this anthology of cozy fantasy stories has hours of holiday reading waiting for you! Winter Tales is set in Cozy Vales, an original fantasy shared world and home to the Heart of the Vale, the most delicious hot chocolate drink ever invented.

This debut collection features stories 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 nine different short stories:

A Season of Giving – L.A. Scott
The Ballad of the Cat and the Silver – Rebecca Buchanan
Flagons and Dragons – K M Jackways
Sour at The Salt & Pickle – Cassandra Stirling
A Dress With Pockets – G Clatworthy
Dormant – Selina J. Eckert
Blizzards and Brews – Deanna and Angela Stuart
The Best Thief in Capital Vale – Nathaniel Webb
The Alchemist’s Surprise – Bonnie Axton

Cozy Vales tales are low on stakes but high on adventure, excitement, mystery, and heartwarming storytelling!

My Review

I picked this one up as I love the cozy fantasy and this anthology just sounded so much fun. It has a winter theme with all the stories set around Winter’s Tide, a two week winter celebration in cozy vales. Below follow my thoughts on each of the stories with a summary of my thoughts of the anthology as a whole at the end.

A Season of Giving – L.A. Scott
This was a cozy story about a heart witch and a project she’s planning to make money so she can start her own bakery. I liked this one and it was fun to read about a heart witch. There were some instances were the writing wasn’t fully to my taste with some fourth wall breaking notes to the reader, but luckily there were only a few of those. I liked how the story got wrapped up, although there is clearly more to come as well. The cozy vale setting was fun to read about as are the mentions of the upcoming winter festival.

The Ballad of the Cat and the Silver – Rebecca Buchanan
This was a fun one. It follows a pegacat, which I’ve never read about before. He’s the constable of a flying vale city and something is wrong with the trees that keep the city afloat. There’s a toad bard that follows along and some deputies that help. I liked reading this one and reading about the magical creatures and this flying city. It had a satisfying ending.

Dormant – Selina J. Eckert
This one didn’t quite work for me. I didn’t really get why her family still gave her a plot to make flowers when she didn’t have any magic. And while I understood her feelings of missing her magic and wanting to be able to do so, what she tried felt very not so smart and ofcourse causes issues. the resolution and ending is on a high note, but I would’ve loved to see what happens next and how she makes her way going forward.

Blizzards and Brews – Deanna and Angela Stuart
I really enjoyed this one, it was so fun! Definitely look forward to more about these characters. The story was pretty straightforward, which I liked. A teashop owner gets stranded in a blizzard and opens his shop to others who get stranded, they go out and help some people and there are plenty of interesting side characters. It had a nice cozy vibe and I just really enjoyed this one. The shop was fun to read about and I liked the characters.

Sour at The Salt & Pickle – Cassandra Stirling
I was in the mood for a cozy story so I went back to this anthology and read another story. This one was a fun short mystery with a cozy vibe. I like how the story takes place in such a short time frame and thought the mystery was well done in such a short read and time. I liked the glimpse we got form the main character and her companion and the feel for their personalities and would like to read more by this author.

Flagons and Dragons – K M Jackways
This one was fun enough, although mostly felt like a set up for a story. I am curious to read more about the inn and how she runs it going forward. It was a nice enough story and I liked the theme of following your dreams and your heart. I also liked reading about a heart witch.

A Dress With Pockets – G Clatworthy
I liked this one, the main character makes clothes and it was interesting to read about. I especially liked the theme of following your dreams and how she had to take a chance on the unknown or stay in a safe place that stifled her creativity and passion. It felt like the start of a larger story and I hope there will be more.

The Best Thief in Capital Vale – Nathaniel Webb
I really liked this one, it was so fun and I was impressed with how the author pulled off such a satisfying romance story in such a short amount of time. I could relate to Hunter’s troubles of talking to people face to face and it was so interesting to see him connect by talking with someone through a wall. I really liked the resolution and the ending was sweet and made me smile. Definitely want to check out more by this author.

The Alchemist’s Surprise – Bonnie Axton
This one was great. It follows a struggling alchemist apprentice who follows her mentor along on a trip to see his old friend. There is some travel, visiting a new place and then some mystery as they arrive and find the friend’s shop in shambles. I liked reading about the main character and seeing the story play out. I liked seeing how everything got resolved at the end and the role the main character had in it.

To summarize: I really enjoyed this anthology. I don’t read a lot of anthologies, but this one was great, probably the best anthology I’ve read so far. One thing I appreciated a lot was how consistent the theme and vibe was, every story felt so cozy and had a similar feel. I also loved the fact all stories are set in the same world, it added some internal cohesion to the anthology which was lovely. And on top of that it’s also set around the same holiday so that caries over throughout the stories and also shows different ways the different vales celebrate the holiday as well as some things like the traditional saying that are the same everywhere.

I had a lot of fun making my way through this one and there are a lot of great stories. A few that I enjoyed less, but most of these I really enjoyed and I look forward to reading more books set in Cozy Vales as well as more by these authors. I can’t recommend this one enough for fans of cozy fantasy or those wanting to get a feel for the genre.

Links:
– Website
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.