It’s that time of year again — the sun is setting at 4 o’clock, it’s always freezing, all the pretty autumn leaves are gone, and you have a bunch of work piling up. It’s so easy to fall into a slump and lose all motivation to get out of bed, and these winter blues can turn into Seasonal Affective Disorder. According to the Mayo Clinic, SAD is “a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year,” with symptoms typically beginning in the fall and continuing on through winter, resolving in the spring. SAD can be worse when you’re at school and can contribute to feeling increasingly homesick and isolated, making you disconnected from your community.
As the days get shorter, I find myself lazing around, switching between TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram, unable to focus on anything. While I still haven’t found a way to get myself to go outside in the cold, I have noticed that reading (especially romance novels) has been a great mood booster and leaves me feeling much better than before.
Here are four book recommendations to give you something to smile about on gloomy winter days.
- “THe View Was Exhausting” By Mikaela Clements and Onjuli Datta
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This book is one of my all-time favorites because the fake dating trope is always so fun. It can get a little angsty, but I loved reading about Win and Leo traipsing around the south of France. It had me wishing that I was on a tropical island somewhere, sitting by the pool.
- “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace
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This sports romance is a super light read that I finished in a day! I loved Stassie and Nate’s banter, but I do have to warn you that this book can get spicy.
- “The Smythe-Smith Quartet” By Julia Quinn
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Bridgerton fever is everywhere, and if you’re also waiting to for the new season to drop on Netflix, The Smythe-Smith Quartet series is perfect. By the same author as the Bridgerton series, the series is 5 books, and every single one of them is fantastic!
- “Carrie Soto Is Back” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
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BookTok collectively lost their minds after reading another of this author’s books (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). Carrie Soto is Back is her latest, and I can’t recommend it enough. Carrie is a complex character who you can’t help but root for, despite all her flaws.