26 Festive Romance Books to Read This Holiday Season — Whether You're Feeling Naughty or Nice!

Mar. 15, 2025

Avon; Bloom Books; One More Chapter; G.P. Putnam’s Sons

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to be a romance reader!Holiday book fans are spoiled for choice this festive season. With new books from Christmas romance stalwarts like Meghan Quinn and Jenny Bayliss, as well as cheery reads fromLucy Score,The Pumpkin Spice Caféauthor Laurie Gilmore and Georgia Clark, there’s no shortage of merriment rockin' around the proverbial Christmas tree.While 2024 is a banner year for new holiday book releases, we couldn’t resist recommending a few treats from seasons past, as well — so if you’ve yet to add B.K. Borison’s enchantingLovelight Farmsto your TBR, now is the time to pour that cup of hot cocoa and settle in for a Hallmark-worthy escape while you wait for hernewest to hit shelves next October.Whether you’re feeling naughty or nice, you’re sure to find a book on this list that will jingle your bells.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to be a romance reader!

Holiday book fans are spoiled for choice this festive season. With new books from Christmas romance stalwarts like Meghan Quinn and Jenny Bayliss, as well as cheery reads fromLucy Score,The Pumpkin Spice Caféauthor Laurie Gilmore and Georgia Clark, there’s no shortage of merriment rockin' around the proverbial Christmas tree.

While 2024 is a banner year for new holiday book releases, we couldn’t resist recommending a few treats from seasons past, as well — so if you’ve yet to add B.K. Borison’s enchantingLovelight Farmsto your TBR, now is the time to pour that cup of hot cocoa and settle in for a Hallmark-worthy escape while you wait for hernewest to hit shelves next October.

Whether you’re feeling naughty or nice, you’re sure to find a book on this list that will jingle your bells.

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One More Chapter

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G.P. Putnam’s Sons

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Avon

Attention fans ofThe Holiday: we’ve found your next read. This house-swapping holiday tale sends an overworked San Fransisco resident to a Christmas-obsessed small town, while a woman grieving the loss of her mom heads to the big city. The end result is full of warmth, romance and personal growth that puts just as much value on soul-searching as it does on finding love.

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Bloom Books

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Melody Monroe, a mom determined to preserve as much holiday magic for her twin boys as possible, throws herself into running their school’s cookie committee in this hilarious and heartstring-tugging holiday book. However, Melody gets more than she bargained for when she’s forced to work with the school’s infuriating (but gorgeous) school principal Jonathan Braxton.

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Bramble

Anyone still longing for spooky season will love thisA Nightmare Before Christmas-style romance between the Prince of Christmas and Prince of Halloween. The forbidden romance has a major swoon factor, while the holiday mismatch leads to plenty of funny and fanciful moments.

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This multicultural romance shines a spotlight on Christmas, Hanukkah and Ramadan as strangers Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson find themselves stranded at the Snow Falls Inn with Maryam’s sister’s entire wedding party and the love of her life following some plane turbulence. What follows is a story of newfound friendships, unexpected romances and plenty of holiday cheer.

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Harper Perennial

Jayne Allen, author of the critically-acclaimedBlack Girls Must Die Exhausted, blends romance and holiday vibes with just the right amount of poignancy inThe Most Wonderful Time. Fresh off a breakup and lying about her relationship status, Ramona is eager to put as much space between her and her family ahead of her mom’s Christmas Eve bash. Meanwhile, across the country, struggling artist Chelsea needs to sell a painting fast. When the two switch houses ahead of the holidays, they also open the door to new perspectives and possibilities — and the potential for a little romance.

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Berkley

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Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone are back with the third installment of theirChristmas Notchseries, and it’s spicier than the most assertive gingerbread cookie. When part-time adult film actress Sunny finds herself up against a deadline to turn in her holiday movie script to the Hope Channel, she returns to Christmas Notch, Vt. to fully immerse herself in the holiday spirit. Once there, she meets heartbroken former boy band member Isaac Kelly, and one one-night stand later, the pair are sharing a house and maybe even inspiring each other in ways neither of them expected.

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Bethany House Publishers

This short and sweet novella features a second-chance romance between an injured NFL player returning home for the holidays and a single mom who is afraid of putting her heart on the line again. Add in some complex family relationships and you have all the makings of an emotional holiday classic.

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Every four weeks, Jack Clausen leaps from one December to the next, living the entirety of his life within the festive compound of Milwaukee’s Christmas market. But his connection with the newly divorced Astra Noel Snow makes him wonder what life is like in between holiday seasons in this warm bear hug of a book.

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Second chances at love are rare, so Charlotte Donovan isn’t sure if she’s willing to risk another broken heart when she ends up spending Christmas in the same house as her ex-fiancée Brighton. However, as the season wears on and the pair find themselves decorating cookies and making beautiful music together again, a little bit of holiday magic might just bring them back together.

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Dial Press Trade Paperback

What’s better than one holiday romance? Three, of course! InMost Wonderful, Georgia Clark introduces a trio of adult siblings who reunite to spend Christmas with their mother, while they also each tentatively decide to open their hearts to the possibility of a new romance.

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Kensington

When Noel Anderson comes down sick after renting out her apartment on Airbnb, she has no plans of letting it dampen her Christmas spirit. However, her temporary tenant Kanton Joseph, who is only in town to close a major business deal, has no interest in merriment. Grumpy-meets-sunshine sexiness is inevitable and as welcome as snow on Christmas morning.

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Morgan Elizabeth

As the title suggests,Big Nick Energyhas plenty of spice, but it comes with a big heart. Shae wants her daughters to have the best Christmas ever, even if that means accepting an invitation from her Tinder-date-turned-friend to celebrate Thanksgiving on his dad’s Christmas tree farm. What she doesn’t expect is to find herself falling hard for the aging cowboy who makes it his mission to give her little family a holiday they’ll never forget.

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St. Martin’s Griffin

After less than a year of marriage, Patrick Hargrave and Quinn Muller need something to shake up their routine — and nothing will get a couple out of a slump faster than having to assume the role of Santa Claus and the first-ever “Merriest Mister.” When Santa quits on their watch, the husbands end up saving Christmas and getting relocated to the North Pole, where they give themselves a year to see if they can make their marriage work. You know, while also taking on the task of preserving Christmas magic for children all around the world.

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InAll I Want Is You, Falon Ballard traps exes and romance writers Jessica and Nick in a cabin during a snowstorm at the holidays. Despite both suffering from writer’s block, their forced proximity — combined with their complicated past — inspires them to put pen to paper again. It also reminds them what they saw in each other in the first place.

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HarperCollins

This hilarious,Groundhog Day-inspired holiday romance involves a woman whose wish to see her future more clearly leaves her stuck in a Christmas Day time loop. As she relives the same family fights and holiday mishaps over and over, she also gets a chance to reconnect with the boy-next-door who she’s had a crush on for years — and who might just be part of the future she asked the universe to show her.

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IfA Christmas Princeis still your favoriteNetflix holiday film, thenDuke, Actuallywill charm the fuzzy reindeer socks right off your feet. Jenny Holiday has no shortage of Christmas-themed books, but her tale of playboy/baron Maximillian von Hansburg and the no-nonsense professor Dani Martinez falling hard for each other despite their best efforts against the backdrop of a twinkly light-covered New York is one of of her very best.

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Blackstone Publishing

Emergency Contactis one of those books that’s just begging for the big screen treatment. When Katherine, a high-powered attorney, gets concussed, the doctors call her emergency contact, who happens to be her ex-husband. With Katherine unable to be left alone for 48 hours, her ex, Tom, has no choice but to take her home for the holidays. One snowstorm and a chaotic road trip later, and these exes find themselves reconnecting in a way they never expected.

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source: people.com