I don’t know about you guys but when it’s cold outside all I want to do is stay inside and curl up with a good book! Honestly, I feel the same way no matter the season, but here are 7 books I loved that make for a perfect winter read. As an added bonus my friends at ReallyIntoThis have a list of cold weather cocktails that would pair perfectly with any of these books!

White Out by Ragnar Jonasson is a classic whodunnit set in a stark and isolated town during a snowstorm. Not only is the mystery itself solid, the authors writing style is sparse yet beautiful, truly unique.

A Season to Lie would be perfect to curl up with during the colder months, it’s the dead of winter in Cedar Valley and the setting is so well crafted that it’s practically a character of its own. A murder set against a series of blizzards makes a chilling combination and while it wasn’t twisty in the truest sense of the word, it still kept me on my toes and engaged throughout.

The Deep Dark Descending follows Max who for five years has been haunted by his wife’s death and he’s finally tracked down her killer. This opens with Max and an unknown man locked in an intense situation in the middle of nowhere near the Canadian border and Max finally has the chance to get justice for his Jenni. It’s tense and thrilling, the frozen atmosphere lends to the chilly scene becoming a character all of it’s own and adding a layer of danger to an already deadly story. It flips back to three days prior as you follow Max as he tracks down the killer, then flips back and forth throughout all the way up to an explosive conclusion.

The River at Night is a story about survival, and friendship as a group of female friends realize that their only hope of coming out of this relatively safely is by banding together. It would be a fantastic movie, Ferencik’s writing style made the wilderness come to life so brilliantly that it was playing out like a movie for me. If you’re looking for a heart pounding read with depth, look no further. There were as many twists and turns as the river itself and I loved how the river was a character of its own. Between the river and the woods, this setting was crafted so well by Ferencik that I could easily picture its breathtaking beauty. 

Rapid Falls This follows two sisters, Anna and Cara and flips between the late nineties and 2016. The girls were in high school in 1997 and were both in a tragic accident that killed Cara’s boyfriend. Anna’s life went down the drain afterwards, she spent time in prison and developed an alcohol addiction while Cara moved on and has a picture perfect life with her husband and daughter. Two very different outcomes and both women were interesting and complex.

Beartown is a heavily hyped book that’s still talked about years later and for good reason. I wasn’t sure a book based on a small towns obsession with hockey would work for me but boy was I wrong. It’s SO much more than that, it’s deep, profound and extremely moving, it’s subtle and gorgeous and the language is amazingly simple but haunting in spectacular way. I will never forget this book or its characters and I highly recommend this to any reader, I truly think everyone can learn something from this one or at the very least be touched by it in some way.

No Exit was super fast paced, had relentless action and a really great atmosphere. I loved the whole locked room vibe with a crazy snowstorm and so many unknown factors. Yes, there were definitely some implausible parts but I can definitely recommend this based on binge read factor alone!