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There is something undeniably appealing about curling up beneath a blanket on a crisp December day and immersing yourself in the warm glow of a festive read. As we wrote Christmas with the Queen, we were feeling particularly nostalgic for the late Queen Elizabeth II and found ourselves digging into her favorite things about the holiday season, and the cherished traditions of the royal family. Weaving a story over five Christmases, with a royal chef and a BBC reporter working in the orbit of the young Queen Elizabeth as she steps into her father’s shoes, our second-chance romance unfolds.
Setting our novel in the past — as historical novelists are wont to do — we found ourselves thinking about our favorite Christmas reads of the past, the newly released reads of the present, and those festive books filling our shopping carts that we’ll be reading in the (near) future. Here are a few, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this season, right along with us:
Books of Christmas Past that We Return to Every Year:
Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silver
Charles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in. Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs. As Dickens’ deadlines close in, Eleanor propels him on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition, and love. The story he writes will change Christmas forever.
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Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye & Rebecca Mascul
Orphans Clara and Jacob Marley live by their wits, scavenging for scraps in the poorest alleyways of London, in the shadow of the workhouse. Every night, Jake promises his little sister ‘tomorrow will be better’ and when the chance to escape poverty comes their way, he seizes it despite the terrible price.
And so Jacob Marley is set on a path that leads to his infamous partnership with Ebenezer Scrooge. As Jacob builds a fortress of wealth to keep the world out, only Clara can warn him of the hideous fate that awaits him if he refuses to let love and kindness into his heart…
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty, they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash, they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences — and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.
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Books of Christmas Present with festive fun that are newly released:
The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore
Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good. Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor taking a break from his life in California. And most importantly, taking a break from his latest run of disastrous dates. After a run in with Kira in her fields, Ben has no intention of offering to help the grumpy owner set up her tree farm, despite the fact she’s clearly got no idea what she’s doing. Somehow fate finds Ben at Kira’s farm once more, and as Kira watches him swing an ax at the first tree, she finds herself appreciating his strength and questioning why she refused help in the first place.
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Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews
When fall rolls around, it’s time for Kerry Tolliver to leave her family’s Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City to help her gruff older brother & his dog, Queenie, sell the trees at the family stand on a corner in Greenwich Village. Sharing a tiny vintage camper and experiencing Manhattan for the first time, Kerry’s ready to try to carve out a new corner for herself. When an elderly neighbor goes missing, Kerry will need to combine her country know-how with her newly acquired New York knowledge to protect the new friends she’s come to think of as family. Complicating everything is Patrick, a single dad raising his adorable, dragon-loving son Austin on this quirky block. Kerry and Patrick’s chemistry is undeniable, but what chance does this holiday romance really have?
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Books of Christmas (near) Future loaded in our shopping carts and audiobook queues that we’re looking forward to reading next, this holiday season:
A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Sunny Palmer has returned to Christmas Notch in search of some festive inspiration for her screenplay. Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace? But after they wake up together in Sunny’s dilapidated motel room after a wild night, Isaac takes a chance and asks her to stay at his place and they make a deal: they will both try to get the other’s creative juices flowing again. With these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script … right?
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The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose
Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s most joyful yet. But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential — and personal — mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?
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