Bubby:
I know, I know. The turkey hasn’t even gone in the oven yet. But there are only hours left until the Christmas Season officially kicks off and we want you to be prepared! Just picture it: Thanksgiving dinner is over, the menfolk are gathered around the television gorging themselves on football, the kids are happily playing outside, your mother-in-law went to take a nap and you are alone with a slice of French Chocolate Silk Pie. And one or more of the novels pictured above. Isn’t it beautiful?
Sissy:
Totally unrealistic. Kids will be bugging us to play board games. We’ll be elbow deep in dishes. But we’ll be together! And that’s all that matters, right?
Bubby:
You know that our family will help with the dishes. They’re awesome that way. And there WILL be French Silk Pie, right?
Sissy:
Actually, I’ve been scanning Pinterest and have found a Chocolate Salted Caramel Peanut Butter pie that is calling my name.
Bubby:
No. No peanut butter in my chocolate. But we can argue about the menu later. Tell us about the Christmas Book selections we’ve curated for our beloved readers, Sissy.
Sissy:
It shall be done, sister mine. Our stories take you to many and varied locations, from small-town USA to the English, and even French countryside. We have holiday love stories, family dramas, mysteries and combinations thereof. There’s even a smidge of paranormal in one tale.
Bubby:
What they all have in common is a delightful Christmas setting and a heartwarming ending. We have 8 novels for you this year – 5 are new, 2 we reviewed recently, and one, The French for Christmas, is a favorite from the past. We are certain that you will find a new Christmas favorite out of this bunch.
Sissy:
So this year, let the Thanksgiving dishes soak for a while and go find a quiet corner to hide in and immerse yourself in Christmas! Or use paper products (I’m only saying that so that I can drive Bubby crazy – she is a “must use real dishes” snob and I’m enjoying seeing her throw a fit and foam at the mouth a little!) Anyway, check out the synopsis of each novel below, click on the title if you want to buy it, and enjoy!
The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy: When her best friends offer the use of their cottage in the beautiful French countryside, Evie jumps at the chance. With her soon-to-be-ex-husband, celebrity chef Will Brooke, plastered over the news with his latest ‘love interest’, leaving the country seems like the perfect plan. Armed with her French grandmother’s tattered notebook of recipes, Evie is determined to ignore Christmas altogether and bake herself back to happiness.
And when Evie meets her next-door neighbour – the très gorgeous doctor Didier she finds a very willing taste-tester. But is it possible that he could be interested in more than just her Tarte Tatin? With snow falling, a special Réveillon dinner and a little Christmas magic in the air, could Didier even be the one to thaw Evie’s heart? Or will a visit from the ghost of Christmas past change everything?
We’ll Always Have Christmas by Jenny Hale: Christmas has always been a special time for Noelle Parker. Winter evenings spent with family and friends, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies at her family’s cozy bakery have shaped her love for all things festive. But this year everything is changing…The beloved bakery is facing closure and Noelle needs a miracle to save Christmas. Determined to raise funds for the family business, Noelle sets about revamping the bakery while juggling a surprise new job, caring for the elderly and cantankerous William Harrington in his luxurious, sprawling mansion.
As Noelle melts the frostiness of the house with cake baking, snowball fights and glittering decorations, she helps William to reconnect with a romance that has spanned decades and unexpectedly finds herself falling for his grandson – the gorgeous but mysterious Alexander Harrington…In the countdown to Christmas, can Noelle save the bakery, reunite a family and create some magical memories of her own along the way?
Christmas At Bay Tree Cottage by Linn B. Halton: The countdown to Christmas is usually a magical time, but Elena James is fed up with living on a building site! The renovations on her beautiful cottage – like her heart – have been frozen in limbo ever since she was unexpectedly widowed. Elana calls in a professional, Luke Stevenson, to help finish the cottage, so her little girl can send letters to Santa up the newly-repaired chimney. Luke’s kind, capable and sexy – but he’s also ten years younger than Elana. So why has her heart decided it’s finally time for a thaw?
A Vicarage Christmas by Kate Hewitt: Welcome to Thornwaite, a quaint village tucked up in England’s beautiful but rainy Lake District… where homecomings happen and surprises are in store for the four Holley sisters…Anna Holley, the third of four sisters, has always felt a little bit forgotten. A family tragedy when she was a child had her retreating deep into shyness, and social anxiety kept her on the fringes of the cozy chaos of the busy vicarage. After several years away from home, Anna returns for Christmas… and an important announcement from her father. As much as she once loved the village, coming back is hard and puts Anna’s social capabilities to the test.
Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber: Merry Knight is pretty busy these days. She’s taking care of her family, baking cookies, decorating for the holidays, and hoping to stay out of the crosshairs of her stressed and by-the-book boss at the consulting firm where she temps. Her own social life is the last thing she has in mind, much less a man. Without her knowledge, Merry’s well-meaning mom and brother create an online dating profile for her–minus her photo–and the matches start rolling in.
Initially, Merry is incredulous, but she reluctantly decides to give it a whirl. Soon Merry finds herself chatting with a charming stranger, a man with similar interests and an unmistakably kind soul. Their online exchanges become the brightest part of her day. But meeting face-to-face is altogether different, and her special friend is the last person Merry expects–or desires. Still, sometimes hearts can see what our eyes cannot. In this satisfying seasonal tale, unanticipated love is only a click away.
Do Not Open ‘Til Christmas by Sierra Donovan: Bret Radner once dreamed of being a hard-hitting journalist, exposing corruption and writing Pulitzer-winning pieces. But heart-tugging circumstances kept him at the Tall Pine Gazette, where small town life, new neighbors, and human interest stories are the news. In charge for the entire holiday season, Bret is determined to run the newsroom right. Yet with a too-pretty rookie reporter to train, he finds himself challenged on just about everything.
A waitress at the Pine ‘n’ Dine restaurant, freelance reporter Chloe Davenport finally gets her big chance to work full-time for the Gazette. But proving herself to her handsome boss won’t be easy. He turns down all her holiday-themed stories and, in fact, doesn’t seem to like Christmas at all. Yet the closer Chloe works with Bret, the more she realizes that his tough exterior conceals a hidden hurt…and a heart she wants to fill with glad tidings of great joy–for many seasons to come.
Hope at Christmas by Nancy Naigle: Sydney Ragsdale is divorced, but her husband is still calling the shots. In an attempt to shake free from his hold, she and her daughter, Ray Anne, head for tiny Hopewell, NC to the only asset her ex has no control over – a decaying farmhouse that once belonged to her grandparents. She finds solace at The Book Bea, the bookstore she’d loved as a child during her summer stays.
Kevin MacAlea, Mac to his friends, is the local high school history teacher and baseball coach. Father of a twelve-year-old son, he’s Hopewell, North Carolina’s most sought after bachelor. His young bride abandoned him and his son just before Christmas and has never come back.
But when a catastrophe forces The Book Bea to close before the end of the year, everyone in the small town is feeling the loss. While Sydney is already off-balance by the bad news, her ex-husband breaks a promise to their daughter that sends Ray Anne running away.
The Ghost of Christmas Past by Rhys Bowen: Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. Not long after they arrive, however, they start to feel the tension in the house’s atmosphere.
Then they learn that the host couple’s young daughter wandered out into the snow ten years ago and was never seen again. Molly can identify with the mother’s pain at never knowing what happened to her child and wants to help, but there is so little to go on. No ransom note. No body ever found. But Molly slowly begins to suspect that the occupants of the house know more than they are letting on.
