12 Holiday Books To Read this Christmas – Part 1

Publisher : Forever/Grand Central Publishing

Genre : Family fiction, Women’s Fiction

Review

Riley Reynolds is a journalist turned romance writer. She’s had success with several books already and has quite a fan base. Unfortunately, her last romance novel was lacking the romance – likely indicative of a challenged love life. Now she is faced with a task of writing a Christmas novel: a very difficult challenge given that she has not celebrated the holiday since she was eight years due to the death of her father. As a publicity stunt, Riley has been instructed to host a Christmas Camp at the Inn run by her publicist’s friend Luke who needs the media attention in order to sell the Inn.

Publisher:  Hawktale Publishing

Genre:  Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction

Review

Hannah is a shopkeeper in Stockholm and lives with her boyfriend. She takes pride in the shop although it hasn’t been doing as well as she has hoped. When her brother Rob’s friend Nico stops by her shop, the two become reacquainted quickly. Nico is now a single father of eight year old Josie from his former marriage. Hannah enjoys Nico’s company and looks forward to seeing him again at Rob’s upcoming wedding in her hometown of Middledip. 

Publisher: Avon Books

Genre: General Fiction, Romance

Review

Vanessa Larkin is a woman who has built a successful career in business in Chicago. In fact, she takes very little down time to the detriment of her relationships. This Christmas she knows she wants to spend some time with her cousin Anna. She expects her company to send her to either Leavenworth Washington or Paris for her next project. She is therefore surprised and disappointed to learn the company needs her in Fraser Hills, North Carolina to oversee the closure of Porter’s, a fruitcake factory in the small town. 

Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press

Genre:  Romance

Review

Maelyn Jones is a twenty-six year old woman who has a fairly mundane life – she still lives with her parents and works at a job she doesn’t enjoy. One of the things she looks forward to each year is spending the Christmas holidays with the people she has grown up sharing the season with. This is a time of celebration, loaded with food, traditions and festive activities. She’s grown up with Theo and Andrew, the boys of Maelyn’s parents’ good friends, and has secretly held a crush on Andrew for the past thirteen years. She questions, then, why she made a big mistake her final night at the cabin. Her life seems to be filled with missed opportunities.

Publisher: Gallery Books

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Contemporary Romance

Review

This book is the tenth in a series but can be read easily as a standalone. It is told in two time frames – 1972 and 2012 and surrounds the importance of a family table originally built by John Creighton for his wife Joan. John has never really built anything, but promises to build Joan a table for their young family in time for Thanksgiving. Inspired by John’s creativity, Joan decides to use the recipe cards her mother has given her and learns to cook and bake, with her children alongside her making memories.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Genre: General Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Review

So there you have it – my first 6 holiday books I’m recommending this year.  Look for my remaining recommendations in a post later this week.  Have you read any of these books or are you planning on reading any holidays reads this season?  Let me know in the comments.

I hope you have a great day!