The Ink & Ember Bookshelf
The Ink & Ember Bookshelf is a collection of books I've personally read and found worth sharing—from psychology, relationships, and personal growth to mysteries, fantasy, and fiction I couldn't put down.
Pull up a chair and get cozy.
The Secret, Book & Scone Society - Ellery Adams
If you like cozy mysteries, small towns, bookstores, female friendships, found family, and characters with complicated histories, this one's for you—especially if you'd happily spend an afternoon solving a murder with a book in one hand and a scone in the other. I picked this one up because I love a good mystery—and putting a bookstore at the center of one certainly didn't hurt. But what stayed with me was the friendship that develops between these women. Each has experienced things that have shaped how she moves through the world, and each has reasons for keeping parts of herself guarded. As they begin trusting one another with their stories, they find connection, acceptance, and a sense that they don't have to carry everything alone. I also love the idea woven throughout the book that sometimes the right story finds us at the right time. A book can help us feel understood, give us language for something we're experiencing, or simply offer somewhere else to go for a little while. Plus, there are books, scones, secrets, and a murder to solve. What's not to love?
What Happened to You?
- Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD & Oprah Winfrey
If you want to better understand how experiences—especially those early in life—can shape the way we respond to stress, relationships, and the world around us, this is one of the books I recommend most often. I like this book because it takes some pretty complex ideas about trauma, the brain, and the nervous system and makes them incredibly reader-friendly. Rather than asking *“What's wrong with you?”* the book invites us to consider *“What happened to you?”* I love that shift because it moves us away from judgment and toward curiosity about how our patterns developed and why they may have made sense in the context of our experiences. I especially like the Audible version. Because the book is structured around conversations between Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey—and they narrate it themselves—it feels a little like listening to the two of them have a really interesting conversation on a podcast. It makes the information feel approachable even when they're discussing complicated topics. If someone asked me whether to start with this or *The Body Keeps the Score*, I would usually recommend this one first. Both are excellent books, but I find *What Happened to You?* much more accessible for someone who wants to understand trauma without feeling like they're reading a textbook. **Themes:** trauma · nervous system · childhood experiences · relationships · patterns · healing · self-understanding · resilience
If you like cozy fantasy, a little magic, found family, complicated friendships, second chances, and stories about figuring out who you are when life doesn't turn out quite the way you expected, this one's for you. I like this book because underneath all the magic and coziness is a story about loss, regret, shame, forgiveness, and finding your way forward. The characters aren't starting with perfectly resolved lives and relationships. They're carrying old hurts, mistakes, betrayals, and things they wish had gone differently—and I loved watching those relationships evolve throughout the story. I also really enjoyed the found-family element. There is something wonderfully cozy about a group of imperfect people creating a place where they can belong, be known, and care for one another. And I appreciate that healing here doesn't mean erasing the past or magically making everything okay. It's much more about making room for what happened while discovering that there can still be friendship, love, connection, and a meaningful life on the other side of it. Plus, there’s a magical inn, plenty of witchy charm, and a surprisingly endearing undead chicken. Sometimes that’s really all the convincing I need. **Themes:** found family · friendship · identity · loss · regret · shame · forgiveness · betrayal · diversity · second chances · belonging · LGBTQ+ relationship · healing
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping - Sangu Mandanna
Homecoming explores what it means to return to yourself after experiences, relationships, expectations, and survival patterns have pulled you away from who you are. One of the things I appreciate most about this book is that healing isn’t framed simply as reducing symptoms or “getting over” what happened. Thema Bryant writes about healing as reconnecting with the parts of ourselves that may have been silenced, abandoned, or reshaped in order to survive and belong. The idea of coming home to yourself is what stayed with me most. There is a warmth to this book that makes difficult material feel approachable without minimizing it. It invites reflection on trauma, identity, relationships, boundaries, grief, and authenticity while continually returning to the possibility of living from a place that feels more fully your own.
Homecoming
- Thema Bryant, PhD
This little book was much more thoughtful than I expected it to be. It’s a quiet, quirky reflection on mortality, relationships, regret, and the ordinary things that make a life meaningful. I loved the way it made me think about what we value—not necessarily the big, dramatic things, but the people, memories, routines, and small comforts woven into everyday life. It’s short, a little strange, surprisingly moving, and one of those books that leaves you thinking after you’ve finished it. And obviously, I am firmly opposed to a world without cats.
If Cats Disappeared from the World - Genki Kawamura
If you like psychological thrillers, unreliable narrators, shifting perspectives, secrets, manipulation, and books that have you questioning absolutely everyone—I highly recommend this one. I love a mystery or thriller that keeps changing what I think I know, and this one did exactly that. Every time I thought I had a decent handle on what was happening, something made me reconsider. It’s dark, twisty, unsettling, and incredibly hard to put down. I especially recommend the audiobook. The full-cast production and podcast-style elements make the story feel even more immersive—and somehow even creepier. Basically: trust no one. **Why it’s on my bookshelf:** Because sometimes the best mental break is getting completely absorbed in another world for a while. I love books that let me step away from my own to-do list, responsibilities, and mental clutter and get lost in someone else’s story. And sometimes that story involves spending several hours confidently thinking I’ve figured everything out only to discover that I absolutely have not.