Sleigh Bells Ring and Hearts Sing: Holiday Romances to Warm Your Soul
Tis the season for mistletoe, hot cocoa, and heartwarming love stories! As the snowflakes fall and the holiday spirit fills the air, there’s nothing quite like curling up with a good book. And what better time to indulge in a romantic tale than during the most wonderful time of the year? So grab a blanket, light a candle, and get ready to dive into these delightful holiday romances that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.
The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
When the department store she works in closes its doors, Carmen has little cash and few options. She moves in with her Sofia, with her perfect house, her perfect children and her perfectly ordered Edinburgh life. Sofia has always been sarcastic and difficult, but with another baby on the way and a client who needs a retail assistant for his ailing bookshop, she asks Carmen to help. Will revamping old Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop in time to benefit from Christmas shopping traffic help heal the rift between the sisters?
Check out The Christmas Bookshop.
Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch
Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR façade. Coal will do anything to escape the spectacle, including getting tangled in a drunken, supremely hot make-out session behind a bar one night.But the heir to Christmas is soon commanded to do his duty: marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter Princess and his brother’s not-so-secret crush.
Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand and Coal comes face-to-face with his mysterious behind-the-bar hottie: Hex, the Prince of Halloween. It’s a fake competition between two holiday princes who can’t keep their hands off each other over a marriage of convenience no one wants.
Check out Nightmare Before Kissmas.
Lovelight Farms by BK Borison
A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams.
In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes.
There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only there is no boyfriend.
Enter best friend Luka Peters. Fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.
Check out Lovelight Farms.
Kiss Me at Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
Christmas can officially get stuffed because Harriet Smith is not feeling bright and merry this year. When her daughter opts for Manhattan instead of Christmas at home, Harriet finds herself seeking solace in a wine-soaked one-night stand.
But how Harriet will spend the holidays is decided for her after she takes the fall for students who break into the town’s old Winter Theater. To get the students off the hook, the theater’s elderly owner requests Harriet direct the washed-out stage’s final Christmas performance.
Harriet will do anything to help the kids even work with the owner’s lawyer who, as it turns out, is her one-night stand. Directing the play with him won’t exactly change her life. But it might just reignite the Christmas spirit and remind her what makes life merry and bright again.
Check out Kiss Me at Christmas.
All I Want Is You by Falon Ballard
All Jessica has ever wanted is her own happily ever after. But until that happens, she spends her days as a small-time romance writer, penning satisfying Happily Ever Afters to soothe the heartache left by her ex-boyfriend Nick—also a romance writer and now her biggest rival—who has found success writing love stories without happy endings. It’s what he’s good at, after all . . .
So when their professional obligations bring them to a remote inn a few days before Christmas, they’re a little more than peeved, especially when they get trapped sharing a room in a snowstorm. But what’s more fitting for two romantic writers in a slump? Realizing the friction between them might be the only cure for their writer’s block, they decide to turn their frustration into fiction . . . and the pages start flying. But will Jess’s heart soar, too? Nick is the last guy on earth she should love . . . but what if he is really all she wants for Christmas?
Check out All I Want Is You.
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. Kira knows she should stop being so stubborn, but her farm is not all cute and cozy like people always show on social media, it’s borderline dangerous with no heating, and she’d rather no one saw it. But 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.
Check out The Christmas Tree Farm.
The Christmas Catch by Toni Shiloh
After a career-ending injury, NFL wide receiver Jahleel Walker returns to his hometown for Christmas, where he runs into his high-school sweetheart, Bebe Gordon. The connection between them is still strong, but Jahleel has no plans to stay, and Bebe can’t risk him leaving again. Will they take a chance on love or let life sideline them at Christmas?
Check out The Christmas Catch.
Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot
Snow is falling, holiday lights are twinkling, and Abby Cohen is upset. For one thing, her most annoying customer, Seth, has been coming into her café every morning with his sunshiny attitude, determined to break down her carefully constructed emotional walls.
As the only Jew on the tourism board of her Vermont town, Abby’s been charged with planning their fledgling Hanukkah festival. The local vendors don’t understand that the story of Hanukkah can’t be told with light-up plastic figures from the Nativity scene, even if the Three Wise Men wear yarmulkes.
Abby puts out a call for help and discovers she was wrong about being the only Jew within a hundred miles. There’s one other: Seth. Seth’s parents have been badgering him to bring a nice Jewish girlfriend home for Hanukkah, and if Abby can survive his incessant, irritatingly handsome smiles, he’ll introduce her to all the vendors she needs to make the festival a success.
Abby begins to realize that her fake boyfriend and his family might just be igniting a flame in her own guarded heart.
Check out Love You a Latke.
Christmas in Rose Bend by Naima Simone
Grieving ER nurse Nessa Hunt is on a road trip with her sullen teen half sister, Ivy, and still reeling from her mother’s deathbed confession: Nessa’s dad wasn’t really her dad. Seeking answers, they arrive in Rose Bend to find a small town teeming with the kind of Christmas cheer Nessa usually avoids. But then she meets the innkeeper’s ruggedly sexy son, Wolfgang Dennison. Wolf’s big, boisterous family is like a picture-perfect holiday card. Nessa has too much weighing on her to feel like she fits–even though the heat between her and Wolf is undeniable. And the merriment bringing an overdue smile to Ivy’s face is almost enough to make Nessa believe in the Christmas spirit. But with all her parental baggage, including lingering questions about her birth father, is there room in Nessa’s life for happy holidays and happily-ever-after?
Check out Christmas in Rose Bend.
The December Market by RaeAnne Thayne
Amanda Taylor isn’t a fan of Christmas, but as the owner of a local soap shop, ignoring the holiday season isn’t an option.
To forget the pain of Christmases past, Amanda focuses on making the season bright for her customers at the Shelter Springs Holiday Giving Market. But when her beloved grandmother, Birdie, starts dating the dashing new resident of the Shelter Inn retirement community, Amanda smells trouble.
Fortunately, Rafe Arredondo, the grandson of Birdie’s charming suitor, is equally dubious of the match. Unfortunately, he’s just as fiery as his grandfather–and Amanda has zero interest in getting burned.
As a single father, paramedic and assistant fire chief, Rafe has more than enough on his plate. Sure, he and Amanda share a common goal in keeping their grandparents apart. Still, that doesn’t mean he should allow himself to feel as drawn to her as he does.
When their paths keep crossing at the holiday market, it starts to feel like fate, prompting them both to wonder if taking a chance on love might gift them everything they’ve been wishing for.
Check out The December Market.
How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn
As his fellow citizens decorate their quaint town, brimming with carols and glad tidings, Cole wants nothing more than to hibernate the winter away. But his dreary plans are thwarted when his Christmas nemesis, Storee Taylor, moves in next door to care for her Aunt Cindy. Immediately, the new neighbor turns his life into a real nightmare before Christmas, especially when she decides to enter the town Christmas Kringle contest in honor of Cindy. And better yet, Storee is determined to win. Over Cole’s dead body, she will. With help from his friend Max, Cole decides to enter the competition as well, to beat Storee at her own game by pretending that this hometown grump’s heart has grown three sizes this season and he’s fallen for the girl next door. And unfortunately for Storee, she has to follow his lead to have a chance at the Christmas Kringle title. But the competition isn’t the only thing that heats up. Cole and Storee’s fake relationship becomes very real, and before they know it, they’re attempting to hide it from Aunt Cindy. Things get complicated, the competition gets tough, and all it takes is one single night for someone to steal it all.
Check out How My Neighbor Stole Christmas.
Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds
Shira Barbanel has a plan: this Hanukkah, she’s going to get a boyfriend. And she has the perfect candidate in mind–her great-uncle’s assistant, Isaac. He’s reliable, brilliant, and of course, super hot. The only problem? Shira’s an absolute disaster when it comes to flirting. Enter Tyler Nelson, Shira’s nemesis-slash-former-crush. As much as she hates to admit it, Tyler is the most charming and popular guy she knows. Which means he’s the perfect person to teach her how to win Isaac over. When Shira and Tyler get snowed in together at Golden Doors, they strike a deal–flirting lessons for Shira in exchange for career connections for Tyler. But as Shira starts to see the sweet, funny boy beneath Tyler’s playboy exterior, she realizes she actually likes hanging out with him. And that wasn’t part of the plan. Amidst a whirl of snowy adventures, hot chocolate, and candlelight, Shira must learn to trust her heart to discover if the romance she planned is really the one that will make her happiest.
Check out Eight Nights of Flirting.
Eight Nights to Win Her Heart by Miri White
Andie Williams is not looking forward to spending her first Chanukah alone after her father’s death. About to lose her job, with her only prospect across the country for another work opportunity, she could use some chutzpah to make it through the eight nights alone. Leo Dentz has had a crush on the girl across the hall from his apartment for years but has never had the courage to say anything, until she drops her grocery bags and he notices her drug store Chanukah candles. Ready to take a chance outside of his comfort zone, Leo offers to join Andie on the first night, sharing his dinner with her. As Andie and Leo fall for each other one night at a time, and the clock ticks down on Andie’s move, will this season of miracles light their way forward?
Check out Eight Nights to Win Her Heart.
Christmas Is All Around by Martha Waters
Charlotte hates the holidays. As a former child actress, she starred in a modern classic of a holiday movie, and its fans won’t let her move on.
When a piece revealing that her reluctance nixed plans for a reboot, she flees to London to spend the five-week countdown to the holidays with her sister. But the ghosts of Christmas past follow her there when she ends up at Eden Priory, a filming location for the movie. She’s accidentally left behind, forcing her to accept a ride back to London by Graham, the son of the owners.
Their family business-and the funds to keep their historic house running-relies on holiday cheer, and Graham knows a visit from a holiday star would bring in more visitors. Now an illustrator, Charlotte accepts a commission illustrating iconic holiday movie scenes in London and its environs.
Graham offers to help escort her, as long as she’ll commit to an art workshop at Eden Priory. But as Charlotte’s chaotic family holiday goes awry, she begins spending more time scouting locations with Graham. Charlotte may not love Christmas, but is it so bad if you’re also falling in love?
Check out Christmas Is All Around.
The Christmas You Found Me by Sarah Morgenthaler
Sienna Naples’s family has taken care of their wild Idaho land for generations and Sienna can’t imagine any other life. But at Christmastime, with her parents gone and her painful marriage finally over, it’s full of memories and incredibly lonely.
When single father Guy Maple shows up as the result of an ad meant to be a joke, the handsome Montana construction worker isn’t joking. Money is tight this Christmas, and Guy’s four-year-old daughter Emma has stage-five chronic kidney disease. She needs a kidney transplant, but if Guy can’t prove that he can afford Emma’s anti-rejection medications, his daughter isn’t going to stay on the transplant list.
Guy’s willing to do anything, including marrying a stranger, to keep her safe. It’s an impulsive marriage of convenience, and Sienna knows this isn’t real, no matter how much she adores Emma, how well Guy fits into the ranching life-or how much light and laughter is coming into their lives as a result.
But the more time she spends with her new family, the more she fears losing the fragile, feisty little girl and the kind, devoted, hard-working, incredibly attractive man who is her husband-but is it only in name?
Check out The Christmas You Found Me.
The Christmas Crush by Noelle Douglas
Marketing executive Elena Voss’s newest assignment for Sparkle Cookie, a large cookie conglomerate, was meant to be a much-needed break from her toxic boss and the stressful city. She never expected to get in a public-and embarrassing-argument with a sexy baker in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
But the townsfolk aren’t exactly thrilled about a corporate chain bakery coming in to ruin their small town feel. Lawrence Higgins—and his dog Sugar—have been a beloved staple in New Hope for years. Their bakery specializes in cookies, but with Sparkle Cookie’s upcoming grand opening, he’s worried about rent spikes and stolen customers.
Elena wants to write Lawrence off as an opponent she can crush, but his good looks and passion for baking make it difficult to stay professional. Elena and Lawrence immediately butt heads at a town hall meeting. When a cookie competition makes them join forces, sparks fly, and they find first impressions are often wrong. Can their blossoming connection survive the ensuing cookie war?
Check out The Christmas Crush.
The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy
All Callie wants for Christmas is to hibernate. She’s still reeling from being dumped by her childhood sweetheart, and under no circumstances will she go home for the holidays considering her ex will be right next door with his new, perfect partner. Callie is officially in grinch mode, but her meddling sister, Anita, won’t let her give up on life, love, and Christmas quite so easily.
Anita stages a Christmas intervention for Callie with a homemade Advent calendar challenge—cheerful tasks to push Callie out of her comfort zone and into the holiday spirit, inspired by a childhood tradition. Callie reluctantly plays along, but when she comes face-to-face with a charming baker who just might be the spoonful of sugar she needs, her strict rules on love and the holidays are tested. As they strike a deal to do the activities together, could the twenty four little doors on Callie’s Advent calendar not only open up one, but two closed-off hearts?
Check out The Christmas Countdown.
Christmas Eve Love Story by Ginny Baird
Annie Jones is stuck repeating Christmas Eve until she finds everything she’s been missing in life in this heartwarming time travel Christmas romance for fans of Miracle on 34th Street, Groundhog Day, and Josie Silver’s A Winter in New York.
Annie Jones works hard designing windows for iconic New York City department store Lawson’s Finest. So when her Christmas window display gets upended by some rambunctious kids on Christmas Eve, the all-too-realistic store Santa gives Annie a little decorating tip on how to start over. With help from friendly security guard Braden Tate, Annie repairs the damage and heads home. But when she wakes the next morning, she’s bewildered to find that it isn’t Christmas day at all, but Christmas Eve all over again.
Trapped in a time loop, Annie doesn’t know how she’ll ever make it back to the present. Luckily, she has an infinite number of chances to get things right. As little everyday choices bring her closer to Braden and to Christmas day, Annie starts to picture what her new life- one full of friendship, love, and community-could look like.
Check out Christmas Eve Love Story.
The Merry Matchmaker by Sheila Roberts
Frankie Lane knows what’s best for just about everyone but herself. Her divorced sister, Stef, who is too young to give up on love; her shy employee, Elinor; and her daughter, Natalie, who works in Frankie’s shop, Holiday Happiness, and really needs to start her own business selling the delectable chocolates she makes at home; even her best friend, Viola, who is trying to renovate her old Victorian. Frankie knows she could help all of them, if they’d just let her — and if all of her help didn’t end in utter disaster. Then there’s Mitch Howard, the owner of the local hardware store. They’ve been friends ever since Frankie opened her store, nine years earlier. He got her through the nightmare when she lost her husband in a freak accident, and he’s her favorite shoulder to cry on. He’s been divorced for years, and it’s such a waste of man! Mitch is the fittest, finest man Frankie knows. He’s easygoing, wise and kindhearted. Mitch needs someone. And she’s determined to help him find that someone — whether he likes it or not.
Check out The Merry Matchmaker.
Faking Christmas by Kerry Winfrey
Laurel Grant is the social media manager for Buckeye State of Mind, an Ohio tourism magazine and website. She is most definitely not an owner of a farm–specifically, the owner of her twin sister Holly’s farm just outside of Columbus–but she lets her boss think she is.
Laurel only handles the social media for the farm, but she’s happy to keep her little white lie going. And keep it going she must, when Gilbert–recently dumped by his wife–invites himself over for the farm’s big holiday dinner. Laurel immediately goes into panic mode to figure out how she can trick Gilbert into thinking she’s basically the Martha Stewart of rural Ohio and keep her job in the process.
Laurel and Holly come up with a plan: all Laurel has to do is pretend to own the farm for one dinner. But when Laurel shows up at the farm, an unwelcome guest is there: Max Beckett, her nemesis since Holly’s wedding. The annoyingly attractive man she hates will be posing as Laurel’s husband just for the evening, but when a snowstorm traps them all for the entire weekend, Laurel is going to have to figure out how to survive with her job and dignity intact. Whatever the case, this promises to be the most eventful Christmas in ages.
Check out Faking Christmas.
Christmas Sweater Weather by Jaqueline Snowe
Charlotte Calhoun has avoided Hayden Porter, her older brother’s sexy-as-sin best friend, ever since that mortifying night when he flat-out rejected her. Fine. Except this Christmas season, they’re thrown together at a snowy ski resort for her brother’s bachelor party, complete with mistletoe, cozy fireplaces, and adjoining rooms. She can tell herself to get over Hayden, but holiday cheer is turning to holiday lust every time he is within ten feet of her.
Between being a full-time single father and his high-pressure college coaching job, a romantic relationship is off the table for Hayden. But he’s fought his attraction to Charlotte for as long as he can. A one-night stand is starting to sound like a good idea—as long as her brother never finds out. But with two long weeks until the wedding, hiding their growing feelings is going to take a Christmas miracle.
Check out Christmas Sweater Weather.
In closing
Enjoy getting cozy with a holiday romance!
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