5 YA Holiday Romances to Warm Your Heart

How is everyone? By the time this posts, those who are celebrating Christmas, or are in communities where holiday preparations are at their peak might either be bursting with excitement or exhaustion. Our to-do lists might seem impossible to overcome, our schedules packed to the brim.

But we have books—print, electronic, or audio—to give us a little bit of an escape. And more: we have holiday books that can remind us of the joy of the season. Books, I believe, can reframe situations. Books encourage us to be empathetic and sympathetic, most especially to ourselves.

No one knows this better than Lila Santos, the protagonist in my young adult holiday novel The Holiday Switch. Amid a stressful holiday season, in which all she can focus on is her future college decision, books ground her. As a blogger for holiday novels, Lila pockets a lesson from every book she reads and soon applies them to her daily life. And, I think we can do the same, and with young adult books that can be read by all ages. 

The following books are romantic and funny and perfect to cuddle up with on our much needed breaks this holiday season.

The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park

The ultimate rivals to romance YA romcom, where opposites Chloe and Peter try to save the shopping mall that houses their parents’ rival restaurants. They band together, though as romance sparks, they find out that their parents’ rivalry is more complicated than they expected.

Some Like it Cold by Elle McNicoll

This author’s YA debut is about Jasper, who returns home from college burdened with secrets, for a final goodbye. She doesn’t bank running into her old nemesis, Arthur, who is a budding filmmaker, and who ends up as a person who supports her through her complicated family dynamics.

Only for the Holidays by Abiola Bello

In this city-to-country, fake dating YA romance, Tia heads to a country estate with her mother for the holidays while recovering from a breakup. There, she meets Quincey, the estate owner’s son, who needs a date for the Winter Ball. But can they keep up the charade when the Winter Ball plans threaten to fall through?

Make My Wish Come True by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick

In this fake dating sapphic YA romance, teen actor Arden, who is in need of a PR clean-up, heads back to her small town and proposes a fake relationship with her former best friend Caroline. Caroline agrees in exchange for some good PR of her own, despite holding a grudge from when Arden left town, but each date brings them closer until what was fake no longer is.

Finding My Elf by David Valdes

In this grumpy/sunshine queer YA holiday romance, Cam, who’s down on his luck after a disastrous first semester in college, returns home and takes a mall elf job. There, he decides to enter a competition for Top Elf, where he meets Marco, who proves to be his fiercest competitor — and a crush he didn’t expect.