Here are 90 books that One Lucky Christmas fans have personally recommended if you like
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Ever since my younger years, I’ve spent many hours dwelling within the realms of my imagination, daydreaming myself into whirlwind romances from slow-burn to forbidden and everything in between. Why? The best answer I can give right now is my love of love, my innate understanding that the invisible string that pulls two people so fiercely together at the right time and place ultimately are the connections and relationships that propel us into up-leveling ourselves, evolving into our next best versions. So when I read, watch, or write romance, it’s beyond the physical–it’s emotional, mental, and truly spiritual.
I return to this book time and again because of the captivating connection Elizabeth and Darcy share. It’s not just the tension on the surface, but it’s what goes on emotionally and psychologically with them that has me enchanted.
Austen does a fantastic job of portraying how love will sneak up on you when you’re not even looking for it, how it will push you to face the parts of yourself you’ve been avoiding for too long and to stand boldly in your authentic character while holding compassion for another’s perspective.
Every time I read this book, I feel I know the characters at a more intimate level as new fractals of their personalities and behaviors shine through.
Jane Austen's best-loved novel is an unforgettable story about the inaccuracy of first impressions, the power of reason, and above all the strange dynamics of human relationships and emotions.
Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is illustrated by Hugh Thomson and features an afterword by author and critic, Henry Hitchings.
A tour de force of wit and sparkling dialogue, Pride and…
I became fascinated with history when I moved to Gloucester in the nineties. The city is hugely historical from the early Roman settlers through to the industrial age of the nineteenth century. What is more fascinating is that many of the streets and buildings I write about still exist in the city today. I carried out extensive research when writing my first historical fiction novel to immerse myself in the medieval city as it would have been in 1497. When I came to write my second novel, listed below, the first book in the Hebraica Trilogy, I already had a good idea of the layout of the city.
I loved this book because it is another time-slip novel, but mostly because of the characters that Gabaldon has created. Claire is a strong woman both in the present time zone–post-war Britain–and the Scottish Highland time zone of the seventeenth century and the uprising. You sense immediately that she is in danger as the story is told from her point of view.
I loved learning about the lives of the Scottish highlanders, how the story moves from one-time zone to another, and how the characters overlap.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.
One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!
Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and…
I’ve worked in many places worldwide, including Native (Amerindian) communities, West Africa, and Jamaica. Each of these experiences has enriched my life and exposed me to the fact that our society is only one of many and, similarly, that all do not share our understanding of reality. Whether visiting Adongo, a Ghanaian shaman who lived on the Burkina Faso border, and watching him go into a trance and describe my spirit, or being in the sweltering dark of a sweat lodge transported by the chanting to another place, to merging with an ancient oak tree, I have been touched by magic. It’s out there.
Quite simply, Erin Morgenstern’s book is the finest example of urban fantasy I have ever read. Besides a plot rich in sorcery and romance, with a circus (think Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes) that appears mysteriously, vanishing just as suddenly and the shadowy game of two great sorcerers playing out their competitiveness through the lives of their young apprentices, this is a beautifully written book. The writing is elegant, rounded, and rich. What a writer! The imagery is transporting without clobbering the reader over the head. The characters are each fully drawn, but in slow increments as the story steams inexorably ahead like the mysterious train that carries the circus from locale to locale.
This book showed me that you do not need blazing dragons or drooling werewolves to create menace, sinister characters, and mystery. Morgenstern places this world of circus magic just out of reach but so…
Rediscover the million-copy bestselling fantasy read with a different kind of magic, now in a stunning anniversary edition to mark 10 years since it's paperback debut.
The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and white. A sign hanging upon an iron gates reads:
Opens at Nightfall Closes at Dawn
Full of breath-taking amazements and open only at night, Le Cirque des Reves seems to cast a spell over all who wander its circular paths. But behind the glittering acrobats, fortune-tellers…
Crushed under writer’s block and a looming deadline, Mack escapes from New York to Seattle. She meets Charlie, a beautiful, generous, nearly bankrupt coffee shop owner recovering from heartbreak. For the first time, Mack has a muse. And then Mack starts using Charlie’s private stories in her novel…
I define myself as a hopeless romantic and look for books that put me in the feels. When one does, it tends to last with me forever, if not a very long time. I read a range of books, and for me, a love story just makes my heart full like nothing else. I don’t care if it’s fantasy romance, contemporary romance, historical romance, etc. As you can see, I’m versed in genre romance all the way to the classics. Give me all the love stories.
This book is a joy from start to finish! The writing is quippy, lighthearted, and witty.
I loved this story so much for it’s perfect exploration of the sunshine grump trope. Penny and Willem are a delight! I also really enjoyed the way Clare weaved in magic into a mundane world. It was easy to understand and was also incredibly believable.
Enemies-to-lovers has never been more enchanting in this witchy romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Hex Yourself.
Penny Roundtree wants nothing more than to be a familiar to a witch. She’s been a member of the Society of Familiars ever since she was old enough to join the Fam. There’s just a small problem—no one’s hiring. Witches and warlocks are so long-lived that there are far more familiars available than witches to train them. So when an unorthodox arrangement to apprentice under the table to a forbidden warlock…
Since I was four years old, I have been in love with Christmas! I’m the kind of person who starts humming carols in October and puts up their first decorations the moment Halloween ends. I’ve got a Christmas Sweater for every day and a card or a present for every friend I bump into. Without a doubt, the Holiday Season is the best time of the year!
As a longtime reader of Christmas histories, I thought I knew most of what there was to know about the holiday, but Nissenbaum’s book continually and consistently surprised me! While reading, I found myself taking notes and jotting down instances of forgotten customs and traditions, determined to work some of them into my own celebrations of the holiday going forward!
It is truly inspirational to know that my favorite holiday has been a part of the American fabric for hundreds of years now and has continued to evolve to meet the needs of those who love it so much.
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Drawing on a wealth of research, this "fascinating" book (The New York Times Book Review) charts the invention of our current Yuletide traditions, from St. Nicholas to the Christmas tree and, perhaps most radically, the practice of giving gifts to children.
Anyone who laments the excesses of Christmas might consider the Puritans of colonial Massachusetts: they simply outlawed the holiday. The Puritans had their reasons, since Christmas was once an occasion for drunkenness and riot, when poor "wassailers extorted food and drink from the well-to-do. In this intriguing and innovative work of social history, Stephen Nissenbaum…
Historical romance author Emmanuelle lives on the bonny banks of Loch Fyne with her husband and beloved haggis pudding Archie McFloof—connoisseur of bacon treats and squeaky toys. She’ll never tire of dreaming up handsome and mysterious strangers she’d love to be snowed in with.
A ‘snowed in / only one bed’ classic. Our heroine is on her merry way to meet her half-siblings for a Christmas country house party, until the snow causes her carriage to come a cropper! What is a girl to do but seek shelter at the nearest castle, where a brooding Scottish widower awaits. In true Romancelandia style, the surly Earl of Darkross turns out to be rather a dish, and it isn’t long before her Yuletide journey turns from cold to scorchingly hot.
From USA Today bestselling author Scarlett Scott comes a heartwarming holiday novella featuring a long-lost Winter sister and the gruff Scot whose heart she heals...
With Christmastide approaching, Miss Sybella Clarke is traveling to a country house party being hosted by her newly discovered half brother, Devereaux Winter. She’s eager to join the large family she’s never met, but a snow storm and a carriage accident land her in far more trouble than she bargained for. When Sybella is left stranded at the castle of the surly, brooding Earl of Darkross, her Yuletide journey goes from cold to scorching hot.…
The Good Woman's Guide to Making Better Choices
By
Liz Foster,
A heart-warming and hilarious novel about the highs and lows of marriage, fraud, and goat’s cheese.
Libby Popovic is a country girl who’s now living a golden life in Bondi with her confident financier husband Ludo, and their two children. When Ludo is jailed for financial fraud, and Libby’s friends…
Having grown up in snowy Scandinavia, my passion for Christmas has always been with me. Nothing beats a good romantic holiday novel, and especially one containing all those themes we know and love. A little bit of loneliness. A pinch of festive fun. Add that special meet-cute. Sprinkle magic over the pages and a comfort-read for years to come is born. As an author I hope my readers enjoy my festive romps, and that perhaps even they, can become a well-read yearly comfort read.
Ellie Thomas is a British author who specializes in short historical novellas.
Every single one is a small period drama in itself, where Ellie’s beautiful prose shines through. Meticulously researched these stories deliver on every level. At Christmas Charles leaves his long-term partner Avery (aka The Nicest Man in England TM) behind to care for his family.
An ill-advised proposal looms over his head as he’s faced with the hardest decision of his life. His family or the man he so desperately loves.
Rom-coms have always been my favorite type of escapism. Give me all the witty banter, romantic tension, quirky characters, and – of course – the well-earned happily-ever-afters. Yes, humor is subjective, so there is a chance these YA books won’t have you roll-on-the-floor laughing like me, but I’m pretty sure they’ll inspire at least a chuckle from even the stoniest reader. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Would you let your family play matchmaker to help you get over a broken heart?
Ashley Elston's 10 Blind Dates is the perfect Christmas treat: delicious, warm, funny, escapist YA romance.
Sophie wants one thing for Christmas - time with her boyfriend Griffin. So when her parents plan a trip to visit her sister over the holiday, Sophie begs to be left behind with her grandparents and her boisterous extended family. But she and Griffin break up and she's devastated.
Sophie's grandmother, hating to see her so upset, devises a (not so) brilliant plan - to distract her from heartbreak.…
Since I was four years old, I have been in love with Christmas! I’m the kind of person who starts humming carols in October and puts up their first decorations the moment Halloween ends. I’ve got a Christmas Sweater for every day and a card or a present for every friend I bump into. Without a doubt, the Holiday Season is the best time of the year!
I love weird and mostly overlooked Christmas-related stuff, and there are few Holiday characters as weird and overlooked as the Krampus!
I loved the full-color photographs Ridenour includes of the Krampus (and adjacent figures), many of which I had never seen before. And a lot of the pictures feature a very menacing Krampus! There’s more to Christmas than just Santa Claus.
With the appearance of the demonic Christmas character Krampus in contemporary Hollywood movies, television shows, advertisements, and greeting cards, medieval folklore has now been revisited in American culture. Krampus-related events and parades occur both in North America and Europe, and they are an ever-growing phenomenon.
Though the Krampus figure has once again become iconic, not much can be found about its history and meaning, thus calling for a book like Al Ridenour's The Krampus: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil. With Krampus's wild, graphic history, Feral House has hired the awarded designer Sean Tejaratchi to take on Ridenour's book…
Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.
Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing of…
I have always had a passion for small towns, both real and fictional. After living in a bunch of them myself (in real life, not my head), I decided to try creating my own picture-perfect places. Like most writers, my love of books started with reading. I have read hundreds of wholesome, small-town romance novels, and I hope to read hundreds more! This list has some of my recent favorites. Bonus: All the books on this list are the first in a series, so if you love them, more swoonworthy stories await! (PS The list is in no particular order, I love each book equally!)
Small town that you will want a realtor for: Ponderosa Falls, CO
Even though I haven't asked for a pony for Christmas in years, I still adore reading horse and ranch books. Falling Slow totally hits the spot with its original and heartfelt story. Family resort? Check. Horses? Check. Lovable characters? Check!
I really didn’t think that was possible, but like my love for dessert, my obsession with this story kept reaching new and amazing levels. I didn’t want the story to end, and I can’t wait to dive into book two. (Cowboy) hats off to Muse!
