Recently, I realized that I never get to recommend any good Christmas romances because in December, I’m always sharing my Best of the Year recommendations. To fix that, I thought I’d go ahead and share my favorite recent holiday reads now that it’s July. Maybe it will inspire you to get your shopping done early. At the very least, hopefully it will help distract you from how hot it is outside.

I loved the book Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy. So when I saw she had a Christmas book, I was so in. I didn’t even look to see what it was about. Turns out our female lead is plus-sized porn star who was cast in a squeaky clean Hallmark-esque Christmas at the last minute. I’ll let that sink in for a minute. Got it? Ok. Her male lead is a former boy bander who is trying to rehab his bad boy image and reboot his career. I have to say that I loved these characters. For this being a fairly unbelievable premise, I thought the story was absolutely believable. Plus who doesn’t want to shoot a Christmas romcom in a cozy, Christmas-themed Vermont town? Am I right? This is a great read, once you get over the set-up shock. And Santa was kind enough to bring us a second book in the series: A Holly Jolly Ever After. Um…yes please. I guess I've been good so far this year.

Ex-accountant Maya Bashir has lost her job, her boyfriend, and her flat. So she heads home to the Scottish Highlands, back to her parents house to regroup and come up with a new plan. She gets her old job teaching skiing at the local resort, which she really enjoys. Except for the fact that her ex works there too. This was a good read. I enjoyed both of the main characters. And I totally identified with not wanting to be an accountant either. I hope this becomes a series because there were some other great stories in this that I want to see fleshed out. 

I enjoy a good mashup every now and then. Usually it’s a musical mix of, say, Deck the Halls and The Talking Heads. In this case, the author chose to take the movies While You Were Sleeping and A Walk in the Clouds as inspiration and stir their plots together. Superhunk and winery heir Juan finally asks Katie to be his date for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, its just to keep his aunt off his back. But when Juan is in an accident and put into a coma, the family gets the wrong idea about their relationship. My only complaint about this one is that is basically a straight retelling of While You Were Sleeping, set at a winery. I wish the author had done a little more work to make it her own. That said, I enjoy that movie, so I enjoyed the book. The ending was better than I thought it would be. Watch the movie. Read the book. Have a Christmas cookie. Good times.

This was a good read. It reminded me of Christmas 2022, when we were also snowed in because of frigid temps and high wind. I actually read this during Christmas 2023, when it was a bit warmer. The story sucked me in so much, that I felt like I was in the frigid blizzard, not enjoying a balmy 60 degree holiday. Basic premise: house mom Becca lives next door to hottie football coach Harrison. When her power goes out in the storm, Harrison saves the day by letting her stay with him and his fireplace. The chemistry is there, but they just needed to turn up the heat. I enjoyed this one, but I’ll be honest - my biggest thought was, “Oh no. No power and frigid temps? Those pipes are gonna burst.” I’m happy to report there was no carnage. If you are looking for a great read to curl up with, this is it. Just make sure to grab a blanket cuz it will make you feel cold.

I didn’t mean to find this one, but here we are. I had seen the second book in this series, Finding Mr. Purrfect, but didn’t realize it was part of a series until I started it. Once I did, I definitely had to go back and read the beginning first. And I’m glad I did. This one was magical. Kira is a vet who opened a cat rescue cafe with her best friend. She has a bumpy past and this was her way forward. Enter Ben, a marketing guy who hates cats but finds a kitten in his new house as he’s renovating it. I loved the characters and the story line - cute cats and cute guys, right? But don’t be fooled, there is some depth here as well. I choose to listen to this one on Overdrive, but we also have the ebook if that works better for you. Can’t wait to see what the second book in the series will bring…

Are you ready to get out the ugly sweaters and bake some cookies? Me too! So put on your Best of Burl Ives CD and let’s do this.

Happy Holidays…
🙂 Amanda