There is nothing better than welcoming the holiday season. From buying festive candles to decorating your home to getting together with loved ones to watch cozy holiday movies–there truly is nothing like this season. At the shop, we have been gearing up for the holidays, and one of our favorite ways is, of course, through reading. Getting cozy on the couch with a soft blanket and reading by the light of the Christmas tree is the ultimate way to get in the holiday spirit.
Every year the holiday season kicks off with a number of new festive books added to our shelves at The Bookshop. Whether a gift for yourself or the reader in your life, these stories are a fun compliment to the classic holiday movie and music rotation that we delight in this time of year. From cozy Hallmark-style reads to new year romances, there was a particularly fun mix of new releases this year.
Without further ado, here are a few of our favorite books to celebrate the most wonderful time of year:
Always, in December by Emily Stone
Every December, Josie posts a letter from her home in London to the parents she lost on Christmas night many years ago. Each year, she writes the same three words: Missing you, always. But this year, her annual trip to the postbox is knocked off course by a bicycle collision with a handsome stranger%u2013a stranger who will change the course of Josie's life.
Josie always thought she was the only one who avoided the Christmas season, but this year, Max has his reasons for doing the same%u2013and coincidence leads them to spend the holiday together. Aglow with new love, Josie thinks this might be the start of something special. Only for Max to disappear without saying goodbye. Over the course of the next year, Max and Josie will find that fate continues to bring them together in places they'd never expect. But what does fate hold for Josie and Max as Christmas approaches again?
Wreck The Halls by Tessa Bailey
Melody Gallard may be the daughter of music royalty, but her world is far from glamorous. But when a producer offers her a lot of money to reunite with her mother’s band on live TV, Mel begins to wonder if it’s time to rattle the cage, shake up her quiet life…and see him again. Beat Dawkins, the lead singer’s son, is Melody’s opposite—the camera loves him, he could charm the pants off anyone, and his mom is not a potential cult leader. Still, they might have been best friends if not for the legendary feud that broke up the band. When they met as teenagers, Mel felt an instant spark, but it’s nothing compared to the wild, intense attraction that builds as they embark on a madcap mission to convince their mothers to perform one last show.
But Christmas Eve is fast approaching, and a decades-old scandal is poised to wreck everything—the Steel Birds reunion, their relationships with their mothers, and their newfound love.
Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
Christmas comes early to McCredie’s little Old Town bookshop in Edinburgh. It’s summer, but an American production company has decided that McCredie’s is the perfect location to film a very cheesy Christmas movie. After all, who can resist the charmingly narrow historic street with its Victorian grey stone buildings and warmly lit shop windows?
Carmen Hogan, the bookshop’s manager, is amused and a bit horrified by the goings-on, but the money the studio is paying is too good to pass up. She uses the little windfall from filming to create new displays and fend off a buyout offer from an obnoxious millionaire who wants to turn McCredie’s into a souvenir shop selling kilts made in China and plastic Nessies. Still reeling slightly from a breakup, Carmen’s not particularly looking forward to the holidays. But just as snow begins to fall and the lights of Christmas blink on, all sorts of lovely new possibilities present themselves…for McCredie’s bookstore, and Carmen herself.
Three Holidays and A Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin & Marissa Stapley
As strangers and seatmates, Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson fly to Toronto over the holidays—Maryam to her sister’s impromptu wedding, and Anna to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy family for the first time—neither expect that severe turbulence will scare them into confessing their deepest hopes and fears to one another. At least they’ll never see each other again. And the love of Maryam’s life, Saif, wasn’t sitting two rows behind them hearing it all. Oops.
An emergency landing finds Anna, Saif, Maryam, and her sister’s entire bridal party snowbound at the quirky Snow Falls Inn in a picture-perfect town, where fate has Anna’s actor-crush filming a holiday romance. As Maryam finds the courage to open her heart to Saif, and Anna feels the magic of being snowbound with an unexpected new love—both women soon realize there’s no place they’d rather be for the holidays.
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice.
But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s? Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place? Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.
Snowed in for Christmas by Jaqueline Snowe
Sorority mom Becca Fairfield is used to guys not taking her seriously. She’s too blond, too quirky, or Just. Too. Much. So she’s ditched dating to focus on her job and a house filled with drama and plenty of tea. Now with the holidays and a major blizzard on her doorstep, Becca has everything she needs to survive the next two weeks on her own. Hot cocoa, plenty of books...and the memory of a steamy kiss with a certain sexy, grumposaurus next-door neighbor to keep her warm.
So when the power goes out and Harrison Cooper—football coach, master crank, and the guy who acted mega-awkward after said steamy kiss—offers her shelter, it only makes sense to accept. But are they keeping warm...or playing with fire?
The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner
Sadie Thatcher’s life has fallen apart in spectacular fashion. In one fell swoop, she managed to lose her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend—all thanks to her big mouth. So when a fortune teller offers her one wish, Sadie jumps at the chance to redo her awful year. Deep down, she doesn’t believe magic will fix her life, but taking a leap of faith, Sadie makes her wish, opens her eyes, and...nothing has changed. And then, she kisses her brother’s best friend, Jacob.
When Sadie wakes up the next morning, she’s in her former apartment with her former boyfriend, and her former boss is expecting her at work. As Sadie navigates her second-chance year, she begins to see the red flags she missed in her relationship and her career. Plus, she keeps running into Jacob, and she can’t stop thinking about their kiss...the one he has no idea ever happened. Suddenly, Sadie begins to wonder if her only mistake was wishing for a second chance.