5 Holiday Romances to Read This Season

by Donna Huber

Today we are kicking off our 25 Days of Christmas Reading. We did this last year and it was a lot of fun. Each day we will feature reading recommendations, free ebooks, or some other festive goodies. If you aren't into reading Christmas books, we will still have reviews of new and recent releases throughout the month. 

As we have been reviewing Christmas books since September, today is a round-up of some of them since you might not have been thinking of Christmas at the time.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan

September 2024; Canary Street Press; 978-1335008398
audio, ebook, print (352 pages); women's fiction

To the outside world, Imogen is a marketing dynamo. Her colleagues don’t know that while her high-achieving professional image is real, the happy childhood stories she spins are as fake as her pretend enthusiasm for Christmas. Working 24/7 has always been her solution to surviving the festive season—until burnout leads to a catastrophic blunder. (Goodreads)

This book was everything I wanted in a good Christmas novel. And it was exactly what I needed for a lazy weekend spent trying to catch up on some rest. Read my full review.

Buy The Holiday Cottage at Amazon

Meddling with Mistletoe by Liz Johnson

September 2024; Revell; 978-0800746407
audio, ebook, print (256 pages); romance

Whitney Garrett is preparing to enter culinary school in the spring, but first she has to sell enough homemade pies at the local Christmas markets to pay her tuition. When her oven breaks, Whitney asks Marie Sloan, proprietor of the Red Door Inn, if she can use the inn's kitchen to keep up with her orders. Marie agrees, with Whitney having to watch the three Sloan children and cook breakfasts for the Red Door in return. (Goodreads)

Meddling with Mistletoe is a cute Christian Christmas romance.  It has all of the pieces that make it a good romance - the main female character is a failure in her own eyes with plans to go to culinary school if she can just find the money, and the main male character is a serious career person who has been hurt by a girlfriend in the past and isn't interested in romance.  Add in a meddling aunt, a cute little girl, and a Christmas pageant and you can't go wrong. Read Susan's full review.

Buy Meddling with Mistletoe at Amazon

A Christmas Duet by Debbie Macomber

October 2024; Ballantine Books; 978-0593725337
audio, ebook, print (288 pages); romance

Hailey Morgan’s life has always revolved around music. She once had big dreams of composing her own songs, but the reality of life has led her to working as an assistant high school band teacher in Portland, Oregon. As the holidays approach, Hailey dreads the annual tradition of Christmas with her meddling family, where she’ll have to play nice while dodging their traditional expectations. (Goodreads)

While the plot is predictable it checks all the boxes of a wonderful holiday story. Read my full review.

Buy A Christmas Duet at Amazon

Christmas in Aspen by Anita Hughes

October 2024; Griffin; 978-1250908155
ebook, print (304 pages); romance

Editor Caroline Holt is on her way to her late mother’s upstate cabin in Hudson to spend the holidays. She was supposed to be in London, having a holiday romance. But this Christmas, she isn’t in the mood to get her heart broken again. Caroline loves being an editor, but in the last year burnout has taken over. She has been mourning her mother, and she is looking to get that spark back. (Goodreads)

What I really liked about Christmas in Aspen is that there are 4 stories of love. These stories are all sweet and the characters are endearing. I wanted to be in Aspen hanging out with them. Read my full review.

Buy Christmas in Aspen at Amazon

Baking It Merry by Samantha Chase

November 2024; Dreamscape Media; 9781666682854
audio, ebook, print (238 pages); romance

Everyone in the building loved the bake shop a lot. Except for the guy on the top floor, who most certainly did not. If it were up to him, there wouldn’t be a hint of Christmas in the building. (Goodreads)

They are thrown together when Tristan needs catering for holiday parties and no one else is available. And soon they are hopping into bed together. This a a relatively clean read if I was rating its steaminess on a 5 hot cocoa scale - it would get 2 or 2.5 mugs as we do get some heavy kissing and sexy talk. Read my full review.

Buy Baking It Merry at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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