Find the perfect book to curl up with this holiday season
MELISSA WHITLER | NBCU Fellow
Melissa@DallasVoice.com
Whether you’re looking for a gift for the reader in your life, or something to get you in the holiday mood, these new holiday books are sure to warm your heart.
I’ll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia K. Boone: Taking a twist on a classic Christmas song, Boone tells a heartwarming house-swap holiday story of two characters.
Bee Tyler needs a break from her hectic life and takes advantage of a house-swap app to go on a countryside retreat. Clover Mills isn’t feeling the holiday spirit after leaving her fiancé and losing her mom this past year. Staying in her Christmas obsessed town just doesn’t feel right, so she decides to house-swap to spend the holidays in a new city.
Now in Bee’s apartment, Clover can’t stop running into her frustratingly beautiful sister, Beth, and wanting to spend more time with her. Bee, in Clover’s town, starts to get to know Clover’s ex-fiancé, and the two women realize they might have found more than just a new place to celebrate Christmas. A cute rom-com for the holidays, I’ll Be Gone for Christmas is perfect for someone looking for a queer twist on holiday Hallmark films.
Make My Wish Come True by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick: Written by the best-selling couple, Make My Wish Come True follows a smalltown girl as she goes on 12 fake holidates.
Actor Arden James has just lost an audition for her dream role because of her messy reputation. In order to turn things around, she’ll have to head home for the holidays for the first time in four years.
Caroline Beckett has spent the last four years working to get into the top journalism program and forget about her former best friend and crush. But then Arden shows up on her doorstep offering a byline in Cosmopolitan in exchange for Caroline writing about their “secret romance” and 12 holidates in their hometown.
It’s the chance of a lifetime, yet old feelings start to flare up, putting the whole faking dating scheme in jeopardy. Will the two be able to survive the holiday season? It’s the perfect story for young adult readers looking for some holiday cheer and romance.
The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky: A gay take on The Santa Clause, The Merriest Misters follows couple Partick Hargrave and Quinn Muller as they navigate the holiday season. The two have been married for less than a year, but domestic life and mortgage payments are straining their relationship.
Then Patrick accidentally knocks out a burglar that turns out to be Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, and the two have to take the reindeer-pulled sleigh to save Christmas.
Except on Christmas morning, the sleigh takes them to the North Pole rather than their home in New Jersey. The elves tell them they must assume the role of Santa Claus and the first-ever Merriest Mister, or Christmas will be canceled forever.
Reluctantly the two agree to stay for one year, but running a toy shop together might not be enough to save their relationship. Will they make it to next Christmas?
The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch: What happens when the prince of Christmas falls for the prince of Halloween? A story that can be enjoyed during both holidays.
Nicholas “Coal” Claus, the son of Santa, loves the holiday but hates how his father has turned it into a publicity façade. He’ll do anything to escape the celebrations, including drunkenly making out with a beautiful man behind a seedy bar. But he’s expected to marry Iris, the Easter Princess, his best friend, and his brother’s crush.
Things are set to go to plan until a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand. It’s Hex, the prince of Halloween and also the mysterious man Coal made out with behind the bar.
The two princes can’t keep their hands off each other, and are stuck in a competition for a marriage of convenience neither of them want.
Make The Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake: From the bestselling author of Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date comes a Christmas tale of two exes stuck in the same house for the holidays.
It’s been five years since Charlotte Donovan was left at the altar, and she’s living her dream life in New York, playing for the string ensemble the Rosalind Quartet. For the holidays, one of her bandmates invites them all to Colorado.
Since this would give the band more practice time for their upcoming tour, Charlotte agrees. But upon arrival, she finds her ex, Brighton Fairbrook, is there. Brighton just wanted to escape reality and forget her band kicked her out this Christmas. Instead, she has to pretend like she and Charlotte are strangers, even as they’re unwillingly signed up for a series of Christmas dating events.
Through horseback riding and cookie decorating, Charlotte won’t talk to Brighton about what happened. But the two start to remember what it was like playing music together and romance fills the air.