After the fun and optimism of the holiday season, it’s not unusual to feel emotionally drained and a bit curmudgeonly. The season’s biting cold and howling winds do little to lift the spirits. And as the snow piles up, and the piles grow progressively grayer, things can look especially bleak. But at least we have books! The right story, devoured in a quiet, cozy corner, can offer more than just escape. It can reset your mood, recharge your imagination or even shift the way you see the world around you. Whether you’re in need of a little cheer to banish the January blahs or craving a full perspective reset, this list of uplifting reads is designed to warm the soul.

In our picks for the most heartwarming books to read in winter, you can meet lovers torn apart by a time slip, a writer trying to solve a mystery while avoiding her maddening (and maddeningly attractive) rival and a band of unlikely friends taking on class divides and impossible odds. Or perhaps you’d rather join a ghost on the hunt for her killer or visit a café where the back of the menu proves life-changing. Fancy a serving of fried tomatoes and a good giggle? Then you’re in the right place.

When we think of uplifting books, murder and inquests don’t usually come to mind. But Over My Dead Body defies the genre and delivers something rare: a ghost story that’s hilarious, life-affirming and compulsively readable all at once. Dr. Miriam Price has been murdered—only no one seems to have noticed. The police are ready to chalk her death up to excessive drinking and move on. It’s up to the newly deceased (and only mildly inconvenienced) Miriam to solve her own murder before the inquest draws the wrong conclusion. The twist? She’s certain someone killed her—she just can’t remember who, thanks to being slightly too drunk at the time. The suspect list is long, the clues are fuzzy, and to make things worse, the only living person she can communicate with is her elderly neighbor Winnie, who also happens to be her lifelong nemesis. Add it all up, and you’ve got a murder mystery with heart, bite and a wicked sense of humor.

You know the drill. Girl meets boy, and love begins to blossom. Only this particular love story comes with a time-bending complication: Emma and Nick soon discover they’re living two decades apart. It all begins in a rose garden, where a heartbroken and introspective Emma takes a seat on a quiet park bench. When Nick sits down beside her, something shifts. The two continue to meet in that same spot, exchanging stories of heartbreak and hope, joy and disappointment. What starts as an unlikely friendship deepens into something more. But just as a happy ending seems........

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