I am now convinced that “cozy” basically means there will be tropes generally presented in an entertaining way, and that while drama of various sorts is an option, most all will be well in the end. Basically, happy endings are now allowed in “adult” fiction. Exhibit 1: Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill.
I actually picked this up in an airport bookshop (the kind where you can return it within 6 months for a partial refund, but in my case, it was kind of an exchange, so I got this one for %50 off) about 2 weeks before I got a notice from Barnes and Noble declaring it “book of the month”; had I seen the email first, I’d have ignored the book since I rarely have good luck with that kind of thing. Turns out this one is actually pretty good.
Tropes include but are not limited to invocation of folklore (mostly Welsh in this case), assembly of unlikely team for a mission (a witch, a goblin, and a Jenny Greenteeth are off to save the magic world from encroaching evil), three tasks, planned solution doesn’t quite work and the aforementioned evil (which turns out to be possessing a predictable type of local villager- guess who) nearly wins by maybe almost convincing one of our team to help, all is nearly lost, but sudden realization of magical {ability, weapon, memory, unexpected reappearance, etc.} allows for vaquishment but at a cost, survivors (mostly the good guys/girls/beings) go back to their lives but with new purpose and connections.
Besides some generally entertaining interactions between the main trio, I also appreciated some actual realism in the drama. Miscommunications, differences of values –human vs not-, and hurt feelings do get in the way (two of the three stop talking to each other for a while, forcing the third to go-between), but then they (eventually) actually do express themselves, and apologize, and back to business. Mostly this is a fantasy based in folklore, some maybe even recognizable by the end, that’s a pretty decent read. It is kind of slow to start, but that’s mostly for world-building and character building purposes (warning: Jenny mentions her diet fairly early in the novel, and there might be baby animals that get tossed into ponds involved), and once the journey and tasks get started, things get moving pretty steadily.