My 4 Favorite Christmas Books

Plus a bonus book rec

Every December, one of my most frequently asked questions is, “What are your favorite Christmas books?”.  So, I thought we could tackle that in today’s newsletter.

In fact, the sheer number of times I got asked this question in December 2020 was one of the reasons I started writing my book, The Christmas Orphans Club. Because I realized I didn’t have a whole lot of books to recommend. The reality is that a lot of Christmas books veer a bit too sweet for me. Now, I love a Hallmark movie as much as the next person, but I have a theory that I can handle my movies a little sweeter than my books. After all, a movie is about 90 minutes (usually watched with my phone in hand, *covers eyes with hands in embarrassment*) but a book is about 10 hours of undivided attention.  [Disclaimer: taste is subjective, what I find too sweet you may find just right and vice versa. Read what you love, even if it’s not what I love.]

So, I started to write the Christmas book that I would want to read. But my book isn’t out until next year. Which brings us back to the question at hand, “What Christmas book should I read right now?”

Here are my 4 favorites:

ONE DAY IN DECEMBER by JOSIE SILVER

Hands down my favorite, so much so that I’ve read it 3 times, and I’m not usually a re-reader. Laurie sees a man through a bus window and has a love at first sight connection with him. She spends the next year searching for him with no luck, only to be introduced to him a year later as her roommate/best friend’s new boyfriend. We see how the trio navigates the next ten years as their relationships grow, change, and fall apart.

CHRISTMAS AT THE ISLAND HOTEL by JENNY COLGAN

Technically this book is #4 in a series, but you don’t need to read the others to start this. You can jump right in. This book has serious Elin Hilderbrand vibes, but instead of Nantucket it’s set on a tiny Scottish island following the opening of a newly restored hotel. There, one of the working-class waitresses strikes up a relationship with a cook, except the cook is actually the spoiled son of a Norwegian duke who has been banished to the island to learn the value of hard work. I know, this summary could not sound cheesier, but it’s so good and has a very rich cast of characters comprised of the quirky island-dwellers.

SO, THIS IS CHRISTMAS by TRACY ANDREEN

This is YA, so if that isn’t your bag, skip this one. Finley Brown has been lying to her fancy boarding school classmates about the magic of her hometown of Christmas, Oklahoma. When she goes home for break only to find her school nemesis is staying at her family’s B&B with his grandmother, she has to improvise some Christmas magic to save face.

IN A HOLIDAZE by CHRISTINA LAUREN

Are you wanting some steam this Christmas? Look no further. Mae spends every Christmas at a Utah cabin with her family and two others. When Mae asks the universe to help her find happiness amidst the mess she’s made of her real life, she ends up in a Christmas time loop reliving Christmas over and over again, all while she finding a romantic spark with one of her cabinmates.

[BONUS REC] THE CHRISTMAS WISH by LINDSEY KELK

I’m only about 2/3 of the way through this one, so that’s why it hasn’t made the *official* list. But so far, I’m loving it. And it’s new this year, so I thought it was worth mentioning. Funny enough this is another Christmas time loop book, but feels completely different than In A Holidaze. Gwen Baker’s life in London has fallen apart, but when she goes home to her small Northern English hometown, she finds herself trapped in a time loop reliving the same miserable day over and over. With a hunch that the reason she’s stuck in the time loop is a wish made by one of her family members, she has to get closer to each of them to find out what their ultimate wish would be to save herself from being stuck in this day forever. The writing is so sparkly and has those quintessential British romcom vibes. And from 2/3 of the way through this is a strong recommend from me!

So, now you might be thinking, “But Becca, have you read MY favorite Christmas book?” I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. Here is the full list of Christmas books I’ve read. If you have one that you feel passionately about, share with the class and leave a comment on this post.

Happy Christmas reading!