I love the holidays. I mean, I REALLY love the holidays. I start playing Christmas music in November, decorate a tree for almost every room in the house and look forward to my favorite Christmas tradition: my homemade advent calendar. I try to infuse every aspect of my life with holiday spirit, including my reading life. That means reading some of the coziest, feel-good holiday books I can find. Twelve of them, to be exact, and I bet you can guess why. Yup, the twelve days of Bookmas.
This year, I’ve browsed Goodreads, scoured my bookish Facebook groups and reached out to my favorite booksellers for feels-like-a-Hallmark-Christmas-movie recommendations. I’ve whittled the list down to twelve and cannot wait to put on some cozy socks, pour a cup of hot chocolate and get lost in the pages. Often. And since I want you to do the same, I’ve created a special holiday gift box to gift to one lucky reader. Learn more about my upcoming Get Lit(erate) digital delivery of literate love subscription and sign up for your chance to win right here!
Since these books are new to me, I’m using a shortened description from Goodreads to give you (and me!) a glimpse into each novel. Once I read each one, I’ll come back to this post and update each book with my own reviews. Here they are!
The Hygge Holiday by Rosie Blake
It’s autumn in Yulethorpe and everyone is gloomy. The last shop on the high street – an adorable little toy shop – has just shut its doors. Everything is going wrong for Yulethorpe this autumn. Until Clara Kristensen arrives.Clara is on holiday but she can see the potential in the pretty town, so she rolls up her sleeves and sets to work. Things are looking up until Joe comes to Yulethorpe to find out exactly what is going on with his mother’s shop. Joe is Very Busy and Important in the City and very sure that Clara is up to no good. Surely no one would work this hard just for the fun of it? Can a man who answers emails at 3 a. m. learn to appreciate the slower, happier, hygge things in life – naps, candles, good friends and maybe even falling in love?
Noelle the First by Nicole Falls
Despite sharing a birthday with the holiday, Christmas just wasn’t Noelle’s thing. As a kid she had been in love with the holiday, but adult Noelle just saw it as another day to get through.
Jay has moved back home after a breakup and is looking to reconnect with his childhood bestie. Cooking up a scheme to get her in the holiday spirit with her sisters, he’s determined to bring back to the old Noelle.
With a combination of nostalgia, Christmas magic and a little bit of mistletoe, Noelle the First is a tale of old friends finding their way back to each other and more.
The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews
This is the perfect holiday book. Andrews introduces us to Ivy, a newly divorced woman who bravely bought a rambling farmhouse, sight-unseen, hours from home in an attempt to start over. What she doesn’t expect is a house full of repairs, missing furniture or losing her job. As she comes to terms with her new reality, a note from years ago captures her attention and her heart. Following her curiosity, she connects with her neighbors, learns more about her new town and gets her creative mojo back in the process. This book will delight, will give you that warm and cozy feeling and will have you finding ways to bring it into your own life, too. Oh, how I loved this book.
Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah
This was truly a comfort and joy to read. It starts out with a bang, connecting readers with Joy Candellaro, a newly divorced woman who flees to find a new life, but ends up in a horrific plane crash instead. Miraculously surviving, Joy makes a bold decision to leave her life behind and escape from the crash site to make a new life for herself. She meets Bobby, a six year old boy truly in need of a friend and his father, Daniel, someone who could use a friend himself. As she helps them both heal from their own traumatic events, she begins to find herself again…until her world is tipped upside down once again. This book truly embodies the magic of the season and left me thinking….what if? It’s a cozy read for any time of the season, but fit my cozy holiday mood in December perfectly.
Christmas at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan
The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
Oh, this book. I’m starting to think I need to move to England and open a bakery since I seem to be so smitten with this idea in the books I read. Bayliss introduces us to Kate, a fabric artist and baker who was convinced to join a dating site promising to help singles find love before the holiday. Twelve different men, twelve different dates and twelve opportunities to realize what is most important. There are ups and down, laughter and tears and most importantly, the realization that things might not always be as they seem. This is a heartfelt story that tugged on my heartstrings in so many different ways.
A Touch of Sugar by Christina C. Jones
Pru Ashford isn’t looking for… anything. Which is how she ends up finding exactly what she needs – a perfect balance of savory and sweet.
(I cannot wait to read this one so I can add a longer review for you!)
The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox
When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell–both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie’s identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family’s bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won’t get the memo that they’re over.
With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven’t done since they were kids: switch places. Will the twins’ identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?
The Christmas Table by Donna VanLiere
Honestly, I hugged this book. I hugged this book with a grateful heart and tears streaming down my face. I needed this book. You need the book. The world needs this book. It was the perfect feel-good holiday story told from the perspective of two main characters 40 years apart: Joan in 1972 and Lauren in 2012. While they may be divided by time, they are fiercely connected through the recipes found in a refurbished kitchen table, often considered the lifeblood of the home. I was engrossed in both stories, intrigued by the connection and struck by the power of the family meal. A spiritual book, each page will remind you of the power of faith, of our ability to heal and grow and the incredible power of coming together around what matters most. I’ll be reading this book again soon and diving into all of the other books in the Christmas Hope series, too.
Dear Santa by Debbie Macomer
Lindy Carmichael isn’t feeling particularly joyful when she returns home to Wenatchee, Washington, for Christmas. The man she thought was “the one” has cheated on her with her best friend, and she feels completely devoid of creativity in her graphic-design job. Not even carolers or Christmas cookies can cheer her up–but Lindy’s mother, Ellen, remembers an old tradition that might lift her daughter’s spirits.
Reading through a box of childhood letters to Santa and reminiscing about what she’d wished for as a young girl may be just the inspiration Lindy needs. With Ellen’s encouragement, she decides to write a new letter to Santa, one that will encourage her to have faith and believe just as she’d done all those years ago.
Christmas by the Book by Ann Marie Ryan
Nora and her husband, Simon, have run the beautiful oak-beamed book shop in their small British village for thirty years. But times are tough and the shop is under threat of closure–this Christmas season will really decide their fate. When an elderly man visits the store and buys the one book they’ve never been able to sell, saying it’s the perfect gift for his sick grandson, it gives Nora an idea. She and Simon will send out books to those feeling down this Christmas. Maybe they can’t save their bookstore, but at least they’ll have one final chance to lift people’s spirits through the power of reading.
The Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
This was a delightfully cozy book about a whirlwind romance in England. I’ve been obsessed with all things Princess Diana since I was young, so I couldn’t wait to dive into this book. And I loved every page. If I’m being honest, the book was very predictable….but a beautifully cozy, romantic, happy-ending kind of predictable and for me, that’s the best kind. So, if you want a dreamy read about traveling to England, experiencing royal culture and getting the man too, then this book is for you.
There you have it! Twelve cozy holiday books to add to your December TBR stack. I’d love to know your recommendations, too. Please share your favorite cozy holiday reads in the comments or tag me on social media at @AffinitoLit.
And, if you’d like MORE cozy holiday reads, browse my Bookshop book list with many more!
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