The lights are twinkling, the cocoa’s simmering, and the annual debate has begun: are we feeling festive or just frazzled? If your answer leans toward “both,” you’re in good company. This is the season of mismatched wrapping paper, burnt cookies, and second chances—the perfect backdrop for a good holiday romance.
There’s just something about love stories wrapped in snow and nostalgia. Maybe it’s the promise of mistletoe magic. Maybe it’s that inevitable scene where the grumpy one carries the Christmas tree while the other one melts faster than hot butter on gingerbread. Whatever the reason, holiday romances remind us that even when life looks messy, joy can still surprise us.
This isn’t a list about “the most famous” holiday romances. It’s a list of stories that earn their place in your December, whether you’re stealing a chapter in the carpool line or staying up too late with just one more page. If you’re ready to trade stress for swoons and let these seven books shoulder some of the seasonal pressure, let’s build your holiday TBR.
A Christmas Duet by Debbie MacComber (2024)
Why You’ll Want to Curl Up With This Christmas Tale: It’s impossible to read a Debbie Macomber book without feeling a little lighter—and A Christmas Duet brings that signature magic in full holiday harmony. Picture two once-loving hearts, both a little bruised by time and choices, suddenly reunited under the soft glow of Christmas lights. The snow is falling, the carols are playing, and between the laughter and awkward small talk, something deeper starts stirring again.
Macomber knows how to write people who feel like neighbors—the ones you’d stop to chat with at the mailbox or invite over for cocoa. Her stories don’t shout. They hum with warmth, forgiveness, and second chances. A Christmas Duet isn’t just about rekindled romance; it’s about believing that even the most familiar melodies can sound brand new when love finds its way back.
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren (2024)
Why You’ll Want to Curl Up With This Christmas Tale: What if you could do Christmas over until you finally got it right? That’s the irresistible setup of In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren—a rom-com that mixes holiday magic, second chances, and all the cozy, chaotic joy of family Christmases. Mae Jones is stuck in a loop, literally reliving her favorite holiday getaway after one messy mistake too many. As she stumbles through snowstorms, smooches, and a few cringe-worthy moments, she starts asking herself what “happy” really looks like—and who she wants beside her when she finds it. Christina Lauren’s signature wit sparkles here, wrapped in the cinnamon-scented glow of nostalgia and hope. It’s heartfelt, funny, and a little bit time-warp weird in the best possible way—the kind of story that makes you want to grab a blanket, pour some cocoa, and believe in do-overs.
How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn (2024)
Why You’ll Want to Curl Up With This Christmas Tale: If you have ever had a neighbor so aggravating you swear they were sent by fate just to test your patience, then you'll appreciate Meghan Quinn’s How My Neighbor Stole Christmas. It's a holiday rom-com full of sparkling banter, hilarious sabotage, and the kind of slow-burn chemistry that makes you forget to sip your cocoa. It’s about Meadow, a Christmas-loving baker who turns her cozy small town into a Hallmark card, and her grumpy neighbor, Deck, who can’t stand holiday cheer… until he realizes the woman stringing lights across his fence might just string up his heart, too. Quinn blends humor, warmth, and genuine emotion in a story that feels like baking cookies with a rival who ends up kissing you under the mistletoe. If you’ve been craving a funny, feel-good escape that smells faintly of sugar cookies and redemption, this one’s your next festive fix.
One Last Gift by Emily Stone (2022)
Why You’ll Want to Curl Up With This Christmas Tale: Grief, romance, and a Christmas scavenger hunt—if that combo doesn’t tug at you a little, check your heart for Grinch activity. One Last Gift is the kind of story you reach for when you want to cry a bit, smile a lot, and close the book feeling like your chest has been cracked open in the best possible way.
You’re following Cassie, who’s already lost her parents and then loses her big brother, Tom—the one person who always knew how to anchor her when life got messy. Every year, Tom created a Christmas scavenger hunt just for her, full of cryptic clues and sentimental stops; it was their private tradition, their love language. After his death, Cassie finds one last envelope in his awful handwriting, the first clue in a final hunt he set up before he was gone. Suddenly, she has a choice: stay frozen in her grief, or follow the trail he left and see where it leads.
As Cassie deciphers each clue, the hunt nudges her out of her numb little bubble and back into the world—through London streets, the Welsh mountains, and the French countryside. Along the way, she reconnects with old friends, faces long-buried feelings for Sam (Tom’s best friend and her long-time almost-something), and, maybe most importantly, starts to rediscover who she is when she isn’t just “Tom’s little sister.” It’s bittersweet, cozy, and romantic without ever forgetting that grief is messy and love is complicated.
If you like emotional, character-driven stories with found letters, second chances, and just enough holiday sparkle to make you want hot chocolate immediately, this one has your name all over it. Think: Love Actually feelings with a more introspective, bookish heart. One Last Gift doesn’t just ask whether Cassie will find love; it gently asks you what you might do if someone you loved handed you one last chance to rewrite your future—and dares you to follow the clues right alongside her.
Good Spirits by B.K. Borison (2025)
Why You’ll Want to Curl Up With This Christmas Tale: If small-town charm, found family, and one dangerously attractive bartender are your comfort food, Good Spirits by B.K. Borison is going to feel like home. The story brings us back to Lovelight Farms—where love brews stronger than the coffee and life gets a little messier than the flour-dusted counters. This time, it’s about two people learning that sometimes what looks like a second chance is really the beginning they never let themselves have. Expect soft banter, slow-burn heat, and the kind of tenderness that sneaks up on you between pages. It’s the literary equivalent of a warm drink on a cold night—comforting, a bit intoxicating, and exactly what you didn’t know you needed.
Comfort & Joy by Kristen Hannah (2020)
Why You’ll Want to Curl Up With This Christmas Tale: This book will sneak up on you—quiet, a little melancholy, and then suddenly brimming with heart. It starts with Joy, a woman whose life has unraveled just in time for the holidays. On a whim, she boards a small plane and crashes (literally and emotionally) into a new world where nothing makes sense—and somehow, everything starts to. Hannah leans into that magical realism she does so well, blending grief, second chances, and the kind of holiday warmth that feels earned, not sugar-coated. It’s part heartache, part hope, and all about rediscovering what makes life, well, joyful. If you’re craving a story that feels like a mug of cocoa after a hard day, this is your December read.
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory (2019)
Why You’ll Want to Curl Up With This Christmas Tale: If you’ve ever dreamed of snagging an unexpected invite to a royal estate and somehow finding romance between scones and castle strolls, Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory is your cozy escape. This story follows Vivian, a hardworking woman whose life has been more about duty than indulgence—until her daughter whisks her off to England for Christmas. Suddenly, she’s sipping tea with queens, strolling grounds that look straight out of The Crown, and catching the eye of Malcolm, the Queen’s stoic yet charming private secretary. What unfolds is a smart, mature love story for anyone who believes new chapters can start long after your thirties (or fifties). Guillory gives us warmth, wit, and women who know their worth—a rare and lovely holiday treat that feels like hot chocolate for the soul.
By the time you finish these seven holiday romances, your hot cocoa might be cold, your cheeks may hurt from smiling, and you may have developed unrealistic expectations about meeting charming strangers under strategically placed mistletoe. Honestly? Worth it.
Romance is the soft-focus, twinkle-light side of the season—the part that reminds you that connection, hope, and second chances are kind of the point. But sometimes, between the relatives, the group projects masquerading as family traditions, and the person who insists on playing Little Drummer Boy on repeat, what you really need isn’t more swoon.
You need to laugh.
So once you’ve had your fill of meet-cutes, royal flings, and time-loop kisses, it’s time to balance the sugar with a little snark. The next list is all about the messy, ridiculous, laugh-out-loud side of Christmas: books that lovingly roast the season while still making it feel a little magical.
Ready to swap mistletoe for mayhem and tinsel for punchlines? Head over to the next post:
“Bah Humbug & Belly Laughs: Funny Christmas Books to Survive the Season.”
Because if romance keeps your heart warm, humor is what’s going to keep you sane.
P.S. Confession time: I usually run from romance faster than Santa on a cookie sugar rush. But these holiday love stories? Total charmers. If they can turn this grinchy reader into a swooning mess, you’re in for something special.
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