Christmas Book Picks 2022

I read a good handful of Christmas book this holiday season and while I enjoyed them all to varying degrees (I didn’t dislike any of them!), but if I had to choose the ones I loved most then I choose the 8 below!

Okay, I did sort of cheat with one of these because I first read Lovelight Farms back in July for a Christmas in July read, but I had to include it!

In no particular order:

• Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison – Stella owns a Christmas tree farm that is in need of some more business. She enters a social media contest for some publicity, but lied on her application that she runs the farm with her boyfriend. She gets her best friend, Luka, to pretend to be her boyfriend when the influencer who is running the contest, Evelyn St. James, comes to visit. Perfect for lovers of the friends to lovers, fake dating tropes. Such a good book and perfect start to the Lovelight series!
• Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey – Stella has had a rough few years and just moved to New York City. When she stops in front of the Christmas window display at department store, Vivant, she thinks about how much she hates it. Aiden, comes up to her and asks for her honest opinion on the window and after hearing all her gripes with it he says she should apply for the window dresser position. She does reluctantly since she needs a job not knowing that Aiden owns the department store. Love this reverse grumpy sunshine novel!
• In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren – Mae spends every Christmas week in a cabin in Utah with her family and close family friends. One of those family friends is Andrew, who she has had a crush on since she was 13. After a drunken night where she makes out with Andrew’s brother and immediately regrets it and discovering some other upsetting news, Mae asks the universe to show her what would make her happy. Then, she relives the same week over and over again, each time getting a little closer to happiness and true love. This novel is adorable and gave me all the feels!
• A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone – Bee Hobbes and Nolan Shaw have both been cast in a time traveling Christmas romance movie for a wholesome, family friend network. What the network doesn’t know is that Bee is also Bianca Von Honey, an adult film star, who used to have a crush on Nolan, a former boy band pop singer. They also don’t know Nolan desperately needs this job and that he knows Bee’s other personality since he has had a crush on Bianca Von Honey for years. This book was funny and adorable. I loved all the body and sex positivity in it too!
• Christmas Secrets of the Soho Club – This second installment of the Soho Club anthology features multiple novellas that all either take place at the super exclusive Soho Club or features the Soho Club. I really enjoyed all these steamy regency romance stories! I loved the first Secrets of the Soho Club and this installment was just as good, but made extra special with the Christmas touch!
• Resting Scrooge Face by Meghan Quinn – This is a fun short novella with dual POV between Nola and Caleb. Nola moves back to her small hometown and is dreading seeing her ex, Caleb. She’s not in the Christmas mood, but she’s surrounded by it in her small town. Caleb is feeling extra grinch-y lately knowing that the one that got away – Nola – is back in town. Caleb writes a letter about how much he hates Christmas and signs it “Resting Scrooge Face” to vent and then throws it out. His friend, the local mailman, takes the letter and delivers it to Nola who is amused that someone else hates Christmas right now as much as she does. The two begin exchanging anonymous letters signed “Resting Scrooge Face” and “Ho Ho No” all delivered by the mailman. This was such a cute novella and I loved how their letters evolved from hating all things Christmas to actually enjoying it all just because they had someone to talk about it with!
• Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle – Bettie comes from a famous family and her own influencer career is hanging on by a thread. She doesn’t want to have to see her family for Christmas and is dreading the holidays. When she accidentally spills wine on her record player while it’s playing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”, it starts playing backwards and conjured up the holiday spirit, a guy named Hall. Hall vows to restore Bettie’s holiday spirit. But as Hall starts to rub off on Bettie and helps her reconnect with her family, the two become closer. The problem is that the happier Bettie becomes, the sooner Hall will have to leave. This story was beautiful and gave me all the Christmas feels.
• A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh – Lauren, a set designer, and Will, an assistant baseball coach, both living in LA. Lauren hardly ever goes home to Illinois, because she’s afraid of flying and because other than her brother she has nothing back there for her. But this Christmas, Lauren’s brother and his wife are having a baby and want her there. He arranges for her to take a road trip from LA to Illinois with Will, his best friend, who also happens to be Lauren’s childhood crush that broke her heart. The two embark on the road trip with lots of Christmas themed stops . Can Lauren get over her bad feelings towards Will? Can Will prove to Lauren that he’s changed since she last saw him over 10 years ago? This was my favorite of the bunch! It just made my heart happy! I did tear up at one point though when Lauren was telling a story about her childhood, but her past made the love story here all the more sweeter.

Did you read any holiday romances this year?

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