Some days you may want to turn to a book for ease and comfort, lightness, and maybe a little joy. You can find plenty of books with violence, fraught situations, angst, and peril, but NoveList is making it easier to find books with a gentler outlook on the world. Here at NoveList, we recently reviewed and updated our gentle reads genre, so you’ll be able to find hundreds more books that meet your needs.  

Although life has its ups and downs, these stories leave readers with a peaceful, secure feeling at the end. They often occur in small towns and generally avoid sex, violence, and profanity. You'll find cozy mysterieswomen’s lives and relationshipsmainstream fiction, and writers like Wendell Berry, Anne Tyler, and Debbie Macomber.

So how do you find all these great books?  There are several searches you can work with, but we’ll focus on four.  For all of our gentle reads, try:
GX gentle reads

If you want a gentle take on mainstream fiction or women’s lives and relationships, you can use these searches:
GX gentle reads AND GX mainstream fiction
GX gentle reads AND GX women’s lives and relationships

Or if you’re looking for plucky amateur detectives, you can find cozy mysteries like this:
GX gentle reads AND GX cozy mysteries

Gentle reads are calming, comforting, and have a wide appeal. With our recent refresh of this genre, you’ll be able to help your patrons find more of the books they’re looking for.

If you’re looking for a refresher on guiding all of your genre readers on their way, look no further than the NoveList Idea Center. You’ll find guides and tutorials for directing your genre readers to their next favorite book. 


Christine Wells is a Metadata Manager at NoveList.