Happy Hump Day Book Lovers! Every year in the lead-up to Christmas, I share the movies and TV series that you need to be checking out over the holiday period, and this year I thought why not share some festive book recommendations too! Every year, I always try to cram in at least one festive read before the end of the year, so I’ve finally amassed enough books to share in a blog post. If you’re a romance fan looking to add snow-filled festivities into all aspects of your life in December, then these book are definitely ones you need to be checking out! What better way to celebrate the silly season than by curling up by the fire (or under the air conditioner if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere like me) with some yummy snacks, a good drink, and a festive romance book! The post contains some affiliate links.* Kicking things off with a novella is If You Give A Jerk A Gingerbread by Jana Aston, the second book in the Reindeer Falls series. The series itself follows three sisters, with this instalment following Ginger Winter, who really does live up to her name as she’s a master in the kitchen, especially when it comes to gingerbread. Because of her amazing skills, she’s one of several contestants involved in The Great Gingerbread Bake Off and she’s determined to win so she can finally open her own bakery. There’s just one hurdle to get past – Keller James, a celebrity baker who she just happens to fancy. Despite being rivals, Keller can’t help by spend time with Ginger, even just to run errands. As the bake off progresses, so does their relationship. But Ginger knows Keller will be leaving Reindeer Falls once filming in over, and when it looks like he’s stolen her plans for himself, their relationship could be over before they even get a chance to start it... For those who love a queer romances, you definitely need to beck out In The Event Of Love* by Courtney Kae, the first book in the Fern Falls duology, a former friends to lovers romance with ALL the Hallmark vibes. When her holiday plans blow up after a tabloid scandal cancels the event she was planning, Morgan Ross takes a chance on heading home to Fern Falls to help organise a holiday fundraiser, hoping it’ll help her tarnished image. She hasn’t been back to her mountain-side home for years, not since she packed up her life for bigger things in LA, leaving behind her father, friends, and her former best friend-turned-crush Rachel Reed. Morgan’s plan is to be in and out of town before she has to see too many people, especially Rachel, but that plan is foiled the moment she arrives and accidentally crashes into the sign for Reed Family Tree Farm, and she’s suddenly face-to-face with the girl who broke her heart. Turns out, her other best friend Ben has set her up, hoping that Morgan’s event planning expertise can help raise funds for the tree farm to save it from the corporate business sucking the life out of a neighbouring town. Morgan and Rachel have to face their feelings for one another, and the events that lead to their heartbreak after graduation, if they stand a chance at saving Fern Falls, their friendship, and maybe even a future together. Continuing the queer holiday goodness is Kiss Her Once For Me* by Alison Cochrun, a second-chance romance with a fake relationship twist. Last Christmas, Ellie Oliver had it all – she had recently moved to Portland for her dream animation job, and although her mother had once again abandoned her for Christmas, things took a very positive turn during a meet-cute at a bookstore on Christmas Eve with a woman she fell in love with in just one day. Now, with Christmas around the corner once again, things couldn’t be more different – she lost her dream job, is working in a cafe for a boss who’s a bit of an ass, her bank account is about to hit the red, she’s on the verge of losing her apartment, and her heart is still broken from the events of last Christmas. As her life begins to crumble around her, Andrew, the owner of the cafe’s building, offers her a lifeline – they can become fake engaged in order for him to secure his inheritance from his grandfather, and she’ll be given a cut of the money which will help her live more than comfortably. The plan is simple enough until Ellie is invited to spend Christmas with Andrew and his family at their cabin in the mountains, only to learn that the woman who broke her heart a year ago is actually her fake fiancé’s sister Jack. Now Ellie is torn between keeping up the ruse in order to help Andrew secure the inheritance and get her cut, and following her heart to rekindle things with Jack and get her happily ever after. For another quick Christmas read another novella is Kissmas Eve by M.E. Cater and Sara Ney, a cute co-workers romance. Meg loves everything about Christmas, and as soon as December 1st rolled around, she was wearing ugly Christmas sweaters and leggings with Santa’s face plastered all over them. Having only worked in the office for three months, her co-workers have started betting on what she’ll wear, and with the office Christmas party coming up, her cubicle neighbour tells her she needs go for glam instead of cringe. Meg decides to take the opportunity to impress, and hopefully finally talk to Adam, the gorgeous co-worker she’s been crushing on since day one. Adam, who isn’t the biggest fan of Christmas, has been crushing on Meg since she was hired, having not had the courage to ask her out and certain that she doesn’t like him. The office Christmas party might just be the push they need to make a connection. To cram even more festive goodness into your reading list, you can’t go past a good short story anthology, and one of the many is My True Love Gave To Me*, edited by Stephanie Perkins and containing 12 festive stories from some of the most well-loved young adult authors. Aside from being twelve stories for the price one, the stories also cover other holidays like Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, and New Years, as well as Christmas. In Rainbow Rowell’s Midnights we follow our characters across multiple New Year’s parties. Kelly Link gives a supernatural spin to Christmas in The Lady And The Fox. Matt de la Peña gives us catsitting cuteness in Angels In The Snow. Jenny Han whisks us off to the North Pole in Polaris Is Where You’ll Find Me in a bittersweet coming-of-age story. Stephanie Perkins’ It’s A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown features a tree shopping meet cute. There’s a Santa Claus surprise in David Levithan’s Your Temporary Santa. Krampuslauf sees Holly Black introduce supernatural beings to save a crashed house party. Gayle Forman delivers a cute blossoming romance in What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?. In Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus, Myra McEntire has the town prankster fall in love with the pastor’s daughter. The new chef in town is cooking up holiday cheer in Kiersten White’s Welcome To Christmas, CA. Ally Carter has a Christmas switch in Star Of Bethlehem. And in Laini Taylor’s The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer we are whisked away to another world in this dreamy fantasy. Next up is a festive read from one of my favourite romance authors - Rebel Without A Claus by Emma Hart – featuring the much-loved snowed-in trope. For someone who lives in a town called Snow Cove, and whose family owns the Christmas tree farm and Santa’s Grotto, Quinn Langley has a really strong dislike for Christmas. But with her sister heavily pregnant, her dad coming down with the flu, her mum looking after her father and her niece, her brother-in-law running the tree farm, and her grandpa living off eggnog, it’s up to Quinn to run Santa’s Grotto. Her first problem however, is finding a Santa Claus since her father is incapacitated. With everyone in Snow Cove already preoccupied with their own businesses, it’s an absolute miracle that Nicholas White has returned to town for the holidays. The only downside is that they haven’t spoken in nine years after sleeping together at Graduation and Nicholas skipping town the next day. Now that they’re working so closely together, they both have to confront their feelings for one another, and Nicholas has made two things clear – he wants to find out what Quinn secretly loves about Christmas, and he wants to make it up to her for his poor performance on Graduation night. But with Nicholas inevitably heading back to the city once the holidays are over, Quinn doesn’t want to have her heart broken all over again. Another exciting release from one of my favourite romance authors is Snowed In With the Player by Rebecca Jenshak, the first book in the Holiday With The Players duology, a brother best friend romance with a side of snowed-in. Twin sisters Holly and Stella plan on spending a weekend by themselves at their family’s cabin in the mountains before heading home for Christmas. It was meant to be a cozy weekend of skiing for Stella and reading for Holly, but it turns out their older brother Felix has had a similar idea, arriving at the cabin the day earlier with his friends to stay until Christmas Eve. While the siblings are able to work together and all stay at the cabin together, Holly is having a minor freak-out about staying under the same roof as her crush Teddy. Knowing about her crush, Stella convinces her to finally make something happen with Teddy, so when the pair stay behind while everyone else pops back to their parent’s house for the night and they get snowed-in, Holly musters up the courage, thanks to a bit of alcohol, to kiss Teddy. It’s a decision that has the potential to make or break them, especially with the uncertainty of how Felix will react to knowing about his best friend and his sister... AND make sure you keep an eye out for book two – Sneaking Around With The Player – which will be out 6 December! Taking it back to the Reindeer Falls series is book one, The Boss Who Stole Christmas by Jana Aston, a swoony enemies-to-lovers novella. Holly Winters adores her life in Reindeer Falls and working at the Flying Reindeer Toy Company – it’s been her dream since she was a child and she loves going to work every day. That was until her new boss Nick Saint-Croix took over from his uncle and always seems so crabby and Grinch-like. She still loves her job, but Nick makes it difficult some days. It also doesn’t help that he’s extremely good-looking. In the lead-up to Christmas, Nick tells Holly she’s joining him on a work trip to Germany to visit the town where Reindeer Falls got its start. It’s a non-negotiable trip, and Holly hates the idea of spending any more time with Nick than absolutely necessary. Anything can happen while surrounded by the magic of Christmas and with the voice of her sister telling her to hook up with her boss... Rounding out life in Reindeer Falls is the third book in the series, The One Night Stand Before Christmas, a one-night-stand with a twist. Noel Winter did not sign up to work the Reindeer Falls Santa Claus photos. Her domain is organising social events for the senior citizens, not kids, but when her colleague Jillian double-books her weekend, Noel steps up to help her out. Jillian has struggled to find a Santa Claus, resulting in the job landed to her brother, Teddy, who’s currently unemployed, living on his parent’s couch, and is a massive flirt. When Teddy finally arrives, he’s nothing like Noel imagined, and the pair eventually end up going for drinks after the photoshoot, with the night ending at Noel’s house. Coming from a family obsessed with Christmas, it was only a matter of time before she hooked up with Santa... There are actually THREE more books in the Reindeer Falls series, so there’s even more Christmas-y goodness if you can’t get enough of Jana’s characters. For a little Aussie twist and a book that isn’t Christmas-heavy like the previous books is What I Like About Me* by Jenna Guillaume, a young adult book set over the holiday period. Every Christmas, Maisie and her family head to Cobbers Bay, spending the holidays with the Lees – her mum’s BFF and family, which includes her long-time crush Sebastian and his friend Beamer. But this year is different. Her dad is working over Christmas, and she starts picking up on tension between her parents that could be leading to divorce. Maisie decides to bring along her bestie Anna to keep her company, but that soon backfires when Sebastian and Anna start getting close, and she’s left hurt by her friend going after the guy she’s in love with. To make matters worse, this means spending more time than she’d like to with Beamer, who’s been annoying her ever since he started coming on this holiday, and she’s about to learn why this summer. When she meets local girl Leila, she’s persuaded to enter the local Miss Teen Summer Beauty Pageant. The thing is, she’s not like the girls who usually enter the competition – she’s not a skinny model who can strut the catwalk with confidence. But as she starts to see herself through fresh eyes, along with a confidence boost from her new friends, Maisie begins to take note of what she likes about herself. She doesn’t know it, but this summer is the start of a new chapter. Another cute queer romance is You’re A Mean One, Matthew Prince* by Timothy Janovsky, the second book in the Boy Meets Boy companion novel series that is another book oozing Hallmark vibes. Matthew Prince had it all until a PR disaster results in his parents sending him to live with his grandparents in a small town with little connection to the outside world. If that wasn’t bad enough, Matthew is bunking with the annoyingly attractive Hector Martinez, a student of his grandfather, and the pair are anything but friendly towards one another. When the local charity gala is coordinator-less, Matthew offers to help in the hopes that he’ll be able to get home sooner. With Hector acting as his offsider, it’s not long before the pair give into their attraction to one another. Between a blossoming romance and the festive magic of small-town life, the heart of the Grinch, Matthew Prince, slowly begins to melt. Finally, rounding out this list is Your Christmas Love by Layla Hagen, the tenth book in The Bennett Family series. And don’t stress about it being the tenth book – it’s a companion novel series so while it would be better to read the series from the beginning, it’s not really necessary to read them in order. Winston Stratham is finally taking over his rightful role as head of Stratham Stores, relocating back home to Seattle and the flagship store. It’s the lead-up to Christmas and the busiest time for the company, but he’s got added pressure – he has until Christmas to figure out a plan to improve numbers or close the store he grew up in. He hopes that his branding VP, Sienna Hensley, will be able to help. Sienna is passionate about Christmas and the store, and when Winston talks about his desire to rebrand, she’s throwing around ideas instantly. Cue the pair working together every evening trying to get a rebranding plan together for the board. What neither of them factored in was just how good of a team they are, and just how much they are attracted to one another. Throw in the magic of Christmas and a clan of supportive Bennett’s and it’s not long before sparks are flying. There are SO many festive reads out there, with more and more coming out every year, so let me know some of YOUR favourite holiday romances that you think I should be checking out (not that I need any more to add to my TBR, but when has that ever stopped anyone). I also cannot recommend any of these authors enough, so be sure to check out their other books as well, because if you liked these festive reads, you’ll love their other work too!
Happy Reading! Victoria :) |
Categories
All
Affiliates
See DISCLAIMER.
|