Happy holidays! Tis the season to curl up with a cozy holiday book. Today we will be focusing on novels that take place during the holiday season. We have Hallmark style love stories, a classic and something thought-provoking. May your weather be cold, your beverage warm and your blanket be cozy while you read any of these stories.
One Day in December by Josie Silver
Synopsis: Laurie is a skeptic who doesn’t believe in love at first sight…until she experiences it for herself. While on the bus, on a misty December day in London, Laurie locks eyes with a man out on the street. It is then that she knows he is “the one”. But the bus drives away. Laurie spends the next year searching for him at bus stops and cafes all around the city, hoping she will once again run into her mystery man. It isn’t until the following year at a Christmas party that she finally finds him. But it isn’t the reunion she has dreamed of all year. He is introduced to her, and she learns his name is Jack and he is her best friend Sarah’s new boyfriend. The story unfolds over the next decade in the lives of Laurie, Sarah and Jack. It explores themes of heartbreak, missed chances, love, and friendship.
This book is heartwarming, funny, heart breaking and lovely. The story spans a decade which makes the plot feel far more expansive than is typical of this genre. The characters and emotions feel far more based in reality than that of a typical romance. I am also a sucker for a story based in London because it is such an incredible city to spend Christmas. While this story doesn’t just happen over Christmas, it still gives the feeling of the season.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Synopsis: 
The classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge who is a miserly businessman. He is cruel to all and values money over life. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by ghosts. He is confronted with his past, present and the lonely future ahead of him if he doesn’t change his ways. But can a man of his age and status change? Will a change of heart ever happen to someone who has been cold for years?
This is one of my favorite classic tales, I featured it in my novella list. I know we are all incredibly familiar with the story since people have retold it so many times. But if you have never read it, now is the time! I read it nearly every year and Dickens’ signature wit, humor and social commentary leap off the page.
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
Synopsis: Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a Jewish woman who has a secret love of Christmas. In fact, she has made a career out of it. For a decade she has had a secret career as a Christmas romance novelist. Rachel’s publisher tells her that she needs to expand and write a Hannukah love story. But Rachel feels that Hannukah doesn’t evoke the magic that she feels from Christmas. Desperate for inspiration, Rachel decides to work on and attend the party on the final night of Hannukah, the Matzah Ball. It is here that she must work alongside her summer camp enemy, Jacob Greenburg. Can Rachel find the inspiration she is looking for at the ball and meet her publisher’s demands? Or will her and Jacob’s feuding set the whole ball ablaze with a flame that lasts 8 days and nights?
This book has Hallmark written all over it and is by far the most like that genre on this list. This is perfect for readers who love an enemies-to-lovers trope mixed with the coziness of the holidays. I was particularly excited about having a Hannukah romance in a genre dominated by Christmas. This delivers the same level of magic and love of any classic holiday romantic comedy.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Synopsis: Set in 1985 in a small town in Ireland, this novel takes place on the weeks that lead to Christmas. Bill Furlong is delivering coal to the local convent and sees something that makes him see the truth. Society has remained complicitly silent on abuse. The church controls the town, and Bill must reckon with his past and all that he has seen. What does he do with the knowledge he has come upon?
This novella explores the idea that small steps can lead to the dismantling of a system of abuse and oppression. A thought-provoking story of empathy and hope.
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Synopsis: Iris is a young chef who treasures a secret gelato recipe that her late mother gave to her. Dealing with her loss, she wants a fresh start and moves from London to New York. The city is much more than she anticipates. She makes friends with Bobby who tries to pull her out of her funk. Bobby takes her to a street fair in Little Italy. While there, a family owned gelateria catches her eye. She has a photo of her mom in a shop that looks just like it! Could it be the same one?
Iris returns to the gelateria the next day and meets Gio. He tells her the shop is on the brink of closing because his uncle, the only family member who knows the secret gelato recipe, is in a coma. Iris tries the last remains of a batch and realizes that it is the same recipe her mom gave her.
But Iris feels she can’t tell Gio she knows the recipe because she doesn’t understand the reason her mother would have had it to begin with. Iris tells him she will help him try and recreate the recipe. In the process of making gelato, she beings to fall for Gio and his family. Finally feeling like she has a place in the world. But when Gio’s uncle wakes, her mother’s secrets may unravel everything Iris was building all winter.
This is a beautiful story of loss, love and found family. A wonderful winter tale that will leave you craving gelato. Gio and Iris are lovely romantic leads that you will be rooting for throughout the story. Full disclosure, I listened to the audio book of this novel. It was fantastically narrated, if you’re a fan of audio, give it a listen.
