This might be mere coincidence, but two books I read recently - "The House in the Cerulean Sea" by T.J. Klune and "Legends and Lattes" by Travis Baldree, had ... well, they had something resembling a plot, but absolutely no suspense whatsoever.

(Obligatory spoiler warning here, although I feel that it is pretty much impossible to spoil the endings of those books - they are just that predictable.)

One is about a happy orphanage, where a dude comes to inspect whether all is according to the rules, and he immediately falls in love with everything and it is clear from the get go he will write a favourable report. (I guessed all the important plot points about thirty pages in, if I recall correctly.)

The other if about an orc adventurer lady retiring to start a café instead. It is literally the "coffee shop AU" every fanfic fan knows, but as novel. There's all kinds of stuff that could create suspense, but not even the fantasy mafia lady who tries to extort money is a serious threat. (And unlike the fanfic coffee shop AUs, there's no connection of the characters to a story with actual action.)

They also had a gay and a lesbian romance, respectively, which also lacked any tension whatsoever. And also was only a side plot. (It would have worked if the romance had been where the suspense was, but no - the characters only thought about being in love once it was clear their feelings were requited.)

Is this sort of thing trending now, because real life is too upsetting? Both of those books had villains that were built up to be great threats, but weren't adressed at all until the book was almost over, and then, it was all very easy.

Kind of like if 80% of Lord of the Rings had taken place in the Shire, with Sauron being built up as big threat, only for the eagles to arrive and fly Frodo to Mount Doom, where he throws the ring into the lava and then returns to the Shire.

(This is weird to me, because I am pretty much the target audience for cozy anything. Real life was too upsetting to me twenty years ago. And I am not usually bothered by the outcome of a romance being predictable; I read fanfic on AO3, it is right there in the tags who will get together and all that angst about potentially unrequited love is guaranteed to be unfounded. But those recent books are ... too peaceful even for me. I read them all the way through and didn't feel bored, per se, but at the end, I was a bit disappointed, and kinda was like "Was that all?")

Has anyone else noticed this trend? Who is the target demographic?