🎄 3 Christmas Romances I Actually Like
Hello, and welcome to Pleasure Reading. I'm your host, Amelia Ruby. And this is a podcast about the pleasure of reading, where I share curated reading lists, author rankings, chats with my bookish friends and more. If you too take pleasure in reading, I hope that you will subscribe and share the show with a friend. Cheers to your next best book.
Amelia Hruby:Hello, and welcome to Pleasure Reading, a podcast about the many pleasures of reading where I share curated book lists and recommendations for readers of all kinds, but probably particularly readers like me who love romance, fantasy, thrillers, essay collections, literary fiction, and nonfiction of all kinds. Today, we are stepping into the holiday spirit with our first episode of December where I will be sharing Christmas romances I actually like. Now I've called the episode this because I have read a lot of Christmas romance. I feel like I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of the genre, and I wanted to offer a few specific recommendations for the Christmas romances that I really enjoyed reading and would read again. So I have 3 books that I wholeheartedly recommend and would love for you to read if you wanna get into the Christmas spirit, and then I will share 3 honorable mentions that are Christmas romances I enjoyed, but will probably never read again, and hence why I feel like they deserve a mention, but not a place in the top tier of my list.
Amelia Hruby:So let's go ahead and ring in the holiday spirit with this list of 3 Christmas romances I actually like. We're gonna begin with the book that I'm thinking of as the classic romantic recommendation, and this is One Day in December by Josie Silver. Now if you have looked for a Christmas romance in the past 5 years, you have probably come across this book. It is incredibly popular, and I will be honest, I think it deserves the hype. So One Day in December follows Laurie and Jack.
Amelia Hruby:Their story is set in London, and it opens with Laurie on a crowded bus right around Christmas feeling cramps and nervous about germs and overheated. And when the bus comes to a stop, Laurie looks out the window and sees this guy sitting at the bus stop, and right when she looks at him, he looks up and makes eye contact with her, and she feels this spark. And, immediately, she thinks to herself, this is the one. I've gotta get off this bus. I've gotta go talk to him, and he gets up to perhaps come get on the bus to talk to her right as the bus pulls away.
Amelia Hruby:So they have this sort of sliding doors moment in the opening of the book, and then they meet again a year later when Laurie's best friend, Sarah, brings her new boyfriend to a Christmas party, and that boyfriend is the man from the bus, Jack. This is sort of the inciting romantic tension of the book and the story follows Laurie, Sarah, and Jack over the next 10 years as their relationships evolve. I think that this book would be a great fit for you if you are a fan of 1 Day by David Nichols or maybe in 5 years by Rebecca Serle. Maybe even if you liked the 7 day slip by Ashley Poston this year, one day in December doesn't have any magical realism like those books, but there's this sort of kismet quality and meeting over time that takes place in all of them that I really appreciate. And this one for me just has great romance, great tension, both romantic tension and friendship tension, and many wonderful Christmassy settings over the years that these characters meet.
Amelia Hruby:Plus, I really love this one because it's available in mass market paperback, and I love nothing more than a tiny romance that I can pay less than $10 for and carry around in my coat pocket and enjoy as I am moving through the holiday season. So that is one day in December, my first recommendation for Christmas romances I actually like. The next book on this list is actually the newest Christmas romance that I have read, and I am thinking of it as the cute queer one on this list of recommendations, and that is make the season bright by Ashley Herring Blake. Now Ashley Herring Blake has been writing really juicy, lovely queer romance over the past few years, particularly through the bright falls series that includes Delilah Green Doesn't Care, Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail, and Iris Kelly Doesn't Date. So if you have seen or enjoyed any of those books, you're probably gonna wanna pick up Make the Season Bright.
Amelia Hruby:This is a second chance romance following Charlotte Donovan and Brighton Fairbrook. They were childhood friends who fell in love, went to music school together, got engaged, and then as we find out very early on in the book, Brighton left Charlotte at the altar. And the book opens 5 years after that when Charlotte and Brighton are both feeling pretty bummed about the upcoming Christmas season, and they're each invited by one of their best friends to join that friend's family for the holidays. This leads to Charlotte, Brighton, and their friends all ending up in small town Colorado for Christmas, and Brighton and Charlotte show up at this house and see each other for the first time in 5 years. And at first pretend not to know each other, and then eventually end up talking, flirting, and I'll let you read the book and fill in the blanks from there.
Amelia Hruby:I love a queer romance, especially a sapphic one, and I really felt like this book delivered both on the cute snowy small town Christmas vibes and the lovely honest romantic vibes. If you want a feel good story that's definitely bringing a dose of Christmas escapism, I mean, there's a whole, like, holiday dating extravaganza that happens in this small town in Colorado that I can't imagine actually happens anywhere. Also, these characters have, like, really fun rom com jobs. Like, one of them is a violinist and a quartet, and the other one is a singer trying to make it in Nashville. Like, it's got all of the fluff we all desire from an escapist romance and a lovely Christmas time setting to bring it into the holiday season.
Amelia Hruby:So, again, that is the 2nd rec on this list, make the season bright by Ashley Herring Blake. And then the 3rd book on my list of 3 Christmas romances that I actually like is a sexy series. So it's actually quite a few books published as the Christmas Notch series, but I'm gonna talk about the first one, which is a merry little meet cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone. Now this book and the whole series are set in this really fun world where this adult film production company has been invited to produce, essentially, a Hallmark Christmas movie. And there's this issue with the Hallmark movie where the lead drops out at the last minute.
Amelia Hruby:So that production company taps one of their successful adult film stars to be the lead in this Hallmark esque Christmas movie, and there's this really great, like, funny tension between the production companies and characters' sexy sultry image and the squeaky clean image of the movie. And so in this first installment of the series, we meet b Hobbs who has a successful career as a plus size adult film star, and she has just been cast in this Hallmark ish film. Now she has to keep her history a secret in order to keep the job. And at first, she's on the fence about that, but she gets really into it when she realizes that her costar is her childhood crush, Nolan Shaw, who used to be in this boy band that she, like, absolutely loved. And Nolan has come to do this film because he needs some career rehab after some mishaps that gave him not the best reputation.
Amelia Hruby:And so, of course, we have this romance between Bea and Nolan. It is incredibly sexy. This is definitely a spicy, spicy book and series, and the authors just bring in so many fun Christmassy things along the way. For instance, we have a strip club where the dancers all have stage names after the reindeer, from Santa's reindeer. So this is a series for you if you like a spicy, smutty romance, if you don't wanna take the holidays too seriously, but you like a bit of a campy Christmas vibe.
Amelia Hruby:And, honestly, if you're not looking for, like, the highest quality prose in the world. I liked some of these books more than others. I think that a merry little meet cute is probably the best one in the series. I also enjoyed a holly jolly ever after and a jingle bell mingle, which are the 2nd and third books. And I would also highly recommend the novellas that they've created to go in between the full books in the series.
Amelia Hruby:Those have more clearly queer main characters, and they're super fun on audiobook. I listened to both of them when I had a day long drive a few weeks ago. And let me tell you, I was giggling, I was blushing, I was really enjoying myself as I drove down the interstate listening to these characters romp through their relationships. So that then is our 3rd and final recommendation for Christmas Romance I Actually Like, which is a merry little meet cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone and the entire Christmas Notch series. Okay.
Amelia Hruby:Now let's get on to the honorable mentions. So this first one is a novella that I listened to on audiobook, and it is also available as a Kindle unlimited read if you are a KU fan. So this book is set the record straight by Hannah Bonham Young. Set the record straight is a sapphic holiday novella featuring Clara, a photographer, and Evan, a teacher. And Evan is queer, but Clara is straight.
Amelia Hruby:And through a sort of misunderstanding at Clara's job, Clara and Evan begin fake dating, and then we romance readers know exactly what happens when anyone begins fake dating, and the plot for the story kind of goes from there. This is definitely a fluffy, sweet romance that features a lot of queer joy. And if you love to know all the tropes before you dive into something, the author describes this one as a fake dating, childhood friends to lovers, bisexual awakening, holiday romance with an angst free happily ever after. So if you just wanna feel good, I highly recommend Set the Record Straight by Hannah Bonham Young. This didn't make it into the top 3 because I don't know that I'll ever listen to it again, but it was a really great accompaniment while I was cleaning my kitchen and doing some baking a few weeks ago, and I do recommend it if you want to put on a super sweet audio book or cozy up with a quick Christmas read this holiday season.
Amelia Hruby:The next book on my list of honorable mentions is Just Like Magic by Sarah Hochul. This book is on the honorable mentions list because, honestly, it is pretty unhinged. I don't know what else to say about this book. I've never read a book like it, and I don't think I ever will again. So this one is definitely for our friends who are into some magic with their romance.
Amelia Hruby:It features Betty Hughes, who is a down on her luck influencer, trust fund sort of kid, and her family who she is visiting for Christmas in Colorado. Betty has no money, so she's actually been squatting in Colorado for a while, and in this place where she's squatting, she drunkenly plays a vinyl record of All I Want for Christmas Is You backwards. And when she does so, she conjures Hall, who is this holiday spirit in the form of a man, and he can make her wishes come true. So she ends up taking Hall to meet her family. She tells them that they are engaged, and a whole lot of wacky magic unfolds from there.
Amelia Hruby:This book is really fun. It's entertaining. It's really bizarre. It's very sarcastic, and it's definitely for you if you are willing to kind of, like, take a different path towards your Christmas romance. The whole time I was reading it, I was like, what is this?
Amelia Hruby:But honestly, that made it really memorable and that's what landed it on this honorable mentions list. I would not recommend this to everyone, but I would recommend it to a certain kind of reader who wants something out of the box for their Christmas romance reading list. So, again, that is Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle. And my 3rd honorable mention is The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling. So if you've been listening to the show, you might remember that I recommended the x hex series in my list of magical series for romantic witches.
Amelia Hruby:And this is the 3rd book in the x hex series, but this one, instead of being set around Halloween, is set around Christmas. The Wedding Witch features Bowen Penhallow and Tamsen Bly, and Tamsen is a collector of magical artifacts, and Bowen is a witch. And so there's a lot there's some backstory to how both of these characters fit into the other books that you might wanna know if you decide to read it, but I'm about a third of the way through. And so far, it is a fun read. I think if you liked The Ex Hex, you will enjoy this.
Amelia Hruby:But I don't know if it's something I will return to again once I finish this series. And there we go, my friends. That is my list of Christmas romance I actually like. So just to quickly recap, I recommended a classic romantic Christmas romance with One Day in December by Josie Silver. I offered a cute queer one with Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake, and I told you all about my favorite sexy series, which begins with a merry little meet cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone.
Amelia Hruby:Then I gave you my 3 honorable mentions, which were Set the Record Straight by Hannah Bonham Young, Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle, and The Wedding Witch by Aaron Sterling. I will also just add at the very, very end that the next Christmas read on my list is not a Christmas read at all, but is in fact a Hanukkah read called Love You a Lotka by Amanda Elliott. I've read both of Amanda Elliott's other books, Sadie on a Plate and Best Served Hot, and really enjoyed them. So I'm looking forward to this holiday romance from her as well, and I will link to that in the show notes in case you're interested in checking it out. I just haven't read it yet, so I couldn't quite put it on my recommended list without having done any reading.
Amelia Hruby:Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Pleasure Reading. I hope that you will head to the show notes and grab those links to purchase 1 or more of these books from my bookshop page. When you do that, I receive a small affiliate payment that helps me keep this show going. I'm planning one more episode before the year is out and then hopefully a few fun things in early 2025. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a 5 star rating and review on Apple and Spotify, which helps other folks know that this podcast is worth tuning into.
Amelia Hruby:I'm wishing you the very best December, a wonderful winter solstice, and a happy, happy holiday season. I will be back in your earbuds soon. And until then, here's to your next best book.