10 Books To Add to Your Holiday Rom-Com Reading List
Reads for the most wonderful time of the year
By Kerry Winfrey
I’ve always loved the holiday season, specifically the books and films that celebrate the highs and lows of being with family and finding love with a backdrop of twinkle lights and gently falling snow. My new book, Faking Christmas, is an homage to one of my favorite movies, Christmas in Connecticut, and it’s a celebration of everything that makes the season bright—the traditions, the decorations, and (in the case of Faking Christmas) getting snowed in with your boss, your nemesis, and your entire family. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Faking Christmas, and I’m so happy to share some of my favorite and most-anticipated holiday books.
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
I love the warmth in this romance between an American woman and the Queen’s private secretary. It’s sweet and sexy, and Guillory shows that there’s no deadline for finding your soulmate—true love can happen at any age.
Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey
If you like your holiday rom-coms spicy, then you can’t go wrong with Bailey’s latest. Beat and Melody are the adult children of two former rock stars. When they have to team up to reunite their estranged mothers for a Christmas Eve concert, they discover that they have some pretty powerful chemistry. It’s a super fun read—exactly what you’d expect from Tessa Bailey.
Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley
When three holidays (Christmas, Ramadan, and Hanukkah) all fall at the same time, there are three times as many opportunities for holiday chaos. Three Holidays and a Wedding also features my all-time favorite holiday romance trope: getting stuck somewhere because of snow.
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
There’s nothing better than a book set in New York City during the holiday season. The lights! The snow! The romance! Silver writes a perfectly cozy found-family romance full of gelato, Moonstruck references, and a lot of heart.
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt loves Christmas, despite the fact that she’s Jewish. In fact, she’s keeping a dirty little secret: she’s a Christmas romance novelist. But writing a Hanukkah romance doesn’t come as easily. When Rachel attempts to find inspiration at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration, she ends up finding a lot more.
Wrapped with a Beau by Lillie Vale
Vale creates a perfectly cozy holiday setting with Piney Peaks, a town that’s famous for being the filming location of a beloved Christmas classic, Sleighbells under Starlight, fifty years ago. Now Elisha Rowe wants to put her town back on the map by getting permission to film the sequel at the historic Christmas house. But unfortunately, Ves Hollins is the new owner, and he’s planning on selling the house, not filming a movie there. There’s nothing better than the classic “city boy doesn’t understand the meaning of the holiday season” plot (after all, it’s what Hallmark dreams are made of).
It’s a Fabulous Life by Kelly Farmer
Obviously I love a book based on a classic film, and It’s a Fabulous Life reimagines It’s a Wonderful Life in so many delightful ways. The protagonist is a woman named Bailey George instead of a man named George Bailey. And the angel, Clarence, who helped turn George’s life around is now a drag queen named Clara Angel. This is a magical and fun twist on a classic.
Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle
I can guarantee that you’ve never read a holiday book even remotely like this one. In Just Like Magic, the spirit of Christmas (a man named Hall) is conjured by playing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” backwards…and it only gets wackier from there. I think this book would make the world’s weirdest Hallmark movie.
Always, in December by Emily Stone
If you like your holiday cheer with a side of tears, then this is the book for you. Always, in December is about grief and the redemptive power of love—just be sure to keep a box of tissues handy.
Posted November 20, 2023
Kerry Winfrey writes romantic comedies for adults and teens. She is the author of Waiting for Tom Hanks, Not Like the Movies, Very Sincerely Yours, and Just Another Love Song, as well as two young adult novels. She lives with her family in Ohio.
You might also enjoy…