Nov
29,
2023
Do you love Christmas? Then you’ll love these books set at Christmas time! Get ready for all the cozy vibes as we reveal our top picks for best Christmas reads this year.
These are some of the best books all about Christmas that will get you in the Christmas mood. There’s a mix here of books ranging from recommendations for adults, young adults and children that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
A Christmas Carol By, Charles Dickens:
Unlike most Dickens novels (I’m looking at you, Bleak House), this book is short and sweet.
A Christmas Carol tells the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, a selfish old man who hates Christmas. He’s mean to those who work for him, refuses to donate anything to charity and is rude to his nephew when he invites him to Christmas. One evening, he is visited by the ghost of someone he once knew, whose spirit has been condemned to wander the Earth in chains as he was greedy and selfish throughout his life. He is then visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, who show Christmas at three different points in time. After these haunting visits, Scrooge realises the error of his ways and rediscovers his Christmas spirit. Scrooge is an iconic Christmas figure (bah humbug!) so reading the Dickens’ classic where this character was born is an absolute must.
Letters From Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien:
Letters From Father Christmas is an absolute joy to read. It’s a collection of letters written by Tolkien to his children over the course of several decades. It’s such a heartwarming and imaginative collection of letters that will fill you with a childlike joy for Christmas. As you might expect from Tolkien, it’s sprinkled with love, humour, important lessons, and even some battles! Whilst reading this, you can’t help but be jealous of Tolkien’s children who received these letters every year. And you’ll definitely shed a tear when you reach the last of Father Christmas’ letters!
All I Want For Christmas by, Joanna Bolouri:
Joanna Boluri is one of my favourite romance writers and All I Want For Christmas is a brilliant feel-good Christmas book to add to your reading list. It’s told from the perspective of Nick (yes, a romance from the man’s perspective!), who’s just been dumped and grudgingly accepts work at Santa’s grotto. It’s definitely not the most wonderful time of the year for Nick. But at his new job, he meets a wonderful little boy named Alfie, whose only wish this Christmas is for his mum, Sarah, to be happy again. Nick is so moved by little Alfie that he sets Sarah up on a date with his friend Matt. The pair hit it off and Sarah seems happy so mission accomplished.Right? Maybe. All I Want For Christmas is a funny and heartwarming tale about love, family and friends, and how these relationships can be just a little bit messy sometimes.
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens:
Okay, so “technically” this one isn’t a Christmas book but lots of important moments are set on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, which still counts as festive. This Time Next Year is about two babies born 1 minute apart on New Year’s Day in 1990. The mothers are from completely different walks of life but meet in the hospital and help each other through their births. Connie had told Tara that she was going to name her child Quinn, a name that meant luck, but once the babies are born, Tara decides she’s going to name her child Quinn too. Thinking it would be silly to name her child the same name, Connie names her daughter Minnie instead. Minnie Cooper. No, nobody realised it was the name of the car until it was too late. Minnie is down on her luck throughout her life, especially on New Year’s Eve. She always tries to stay in so that bad things can’t happen to her or anyone around her. Now she’s 30. And finds herself trapped in a toilet on New Year’s Eve. When someone finally rescues her, it turns out that person is Quinn. The Quinn Hamilton who stole her name from her 30 years ago. The two find themselves thrown together a few times through circumstance and it turns out that they might be just what the other needs in life.
Christmas in London by Anita Hughes:
Set during London’s most festive time of year and filled with delicious food, Anita Hughes’s Christmas in Londonreminds us that love and forgiveness are truly the greatest gifts of all.
It’s a week before Christmas, and Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn’t know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren’t hers to sell. But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day; so she agrees.
The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge’s. It’s a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa’s famous baking idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than her food.
And then there’s Kate, the show’s beautiful producer. On their first day in London she runs into the skinny boy she jilted at St. Andrew’s in Scotland ten years ago. Now he’s a handsome, brilliant mathematician, and newly divorced. Their familiar spark is still there, but so is the scar of how they left things. Kate and Louisa are busy preparing for the show, but old and new flames are complicating their work. This enchanting novel is a delicious Christmas treat!
The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson:
Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.
But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?
Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.
