In: Comfort Books

If you asked me what TV show I could watch over and over again, I’d say it’s The Vampire Diaries. With its aggressively 2010s soundtrack and vernacular (they were really feeling “epic” in that last episode), it drops me right back into who I was when it first aired: a girl in her college sweats, scrolling through YikYak (terrible app), trying to find some relief from her physics homework.

I know. I was so cool.

I’m watching less TV these days, but I do reread/relisten to books constantly. Here are five of them (and yes, they’re all romance).

• King of Wrath by Ana Huang

• First Time Caller by B.K. Borison

• Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver

• The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez

• Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

At a time when social media has us consuming so much at once, there’s this pressure to get your hands on the new book (bag, lipstick, thing, etc.) everyone’s talking about, rush through it, and post about it on the internet. But all I want right now is something familiar. Something that feels good to sink into. Because it’s been 2026 for just six days, and it’s feeling like the opposite.

I’m not sure if this resonates with anyone. But if it does with you, what are your comfort reads? Shows?

Update:
I spent time with Ian and Nikki.