By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Dear Santa….
You’ve asked for love every way you can imagine, so why not try a letter to the North Pole? That’s what you want for the holidays: love, intrigue, family, and you’ll find them inside these great Christmas romance books and other novels…
When city girl Tia Solanke is faced with a boyfriendless Christmas, she’s understandably sad. In “Only for the Holidays” by Abiola Bello (Soho Teen, $19.99), Tia’s mother thinks a change of atmosphere will help, so she plans a Christmas vacation on a nearby farm where the handsome “country boy” who helps run the place also happens to be single. He’s also looking for a date to the farm’s Winter Ball. Hmmm. Mistletoe Rating: Five out of Five.
Here’s something different: set in Norway, “Christmas at Glitter Peak Lodge” by Kjersti Herland Johnsen (HarperVia, $17.99) is part mystery, part winter tale, and part romance, written in bite-sized chapters for one-a-day reading. When Ingrid Berg assumes management of the lodge her grandmother owns, she wonders how she’s ever going to keep the place running. So. Many. Problems. Can she overcome them, or will it be a ho-ho-horrible holiday?
For the romance fan who wants something more classic, try “The Christmas Cookie Wars” by Eliza Evans (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $19). Melody Monroe has been trying to keep the Christmas spirit alive for her nine-year-old twins, but the boys aren’t feeling very Christmassy. So when Melody has a chance to seize some holiday spirit, she joins their school’s cookie-baking committee, despite that the school’s principal is a horrible man who soon starts an argument. Who wins? Nobody but Santa – and love, of course.
You know who’d come to your rescue if your fiance dumped you? Your bestie, of course, and in “The Holiday Honeymoon Switch” by Julia McKay (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $19), Holly’s man has jilted her and her bestie, Ivy, steps in with a plan. They’ll switch places: Ivy will go on the ex-honeymoon alone, while Holly will take Ivy’s cabin-vacation. But when Mr. Ex checks into the hotel, and the cabin host turns out to be a cabin hottie, these single belles might hear romantic Jingle Bells.
And, okay, you can’t have enough romance for the holidays, but you need something else, too… like maybe a thriller to chill ya? In “You Better Watch Out” by James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth (St. Martin’s Press, $28), it’s two days before Christmas and Jessica Kane wakes up with a terrible injury. She distinctly recalls being assaulted on her daily run, but it takes a minute to realize that she’s not home. What’s even scarier is that five other people have had the same experience, and they’re all trapped in an otherwise empty town. When they begin dying, one by one, Jessica knows that Santa Claus isn’t the only one who’s come to town.
Not enough for your holiday enjoyment? Then pick up some new books by asking your favorite bookseller or librarian for more holiday romance. Or you can always ask Santa.
