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Christmas Reads 2019

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I love a good Christmas novel or novella as much as I love a good Hallmark Christmas movie. Of course there are the perennial favorites like The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, A Christmas Carol, Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree, and The Night Before Christmas. But every year there are other great stories set around Christmastime. Here is a list of what I’ve read and enjoyed this year:

Royally Yours—This delightful novella collection involves a Christmas-themed town in Vermont where Paparazzi is not allowed. In each story, a royal goes there to escape and meets their soul mate. Each story was fun and unique. Thanks, Melissa Tagg, Betsy St. Amant, Liz Johnson and Ashley Clark!

Christmas at Whitefriars—If you are a fan of Elizabeth Camden (as I am!) and have read her Empire State series, you will recognize the minor characters in this novella as the protagonists from A Dangerous Legacy and A Daring Venture. Of course, being set in England in the early 20th century this book was an immediate win for me. A very sweet story with an unlikely hero and heroine who find home in one another.

Like a Winter Snow—Lindsey Harrel’s contemporary tale, again with an English (actually Welsh) setting, was a sweet love story between two never-before-married 40 year olds. I haven’t yet had a chance yet to read the novel that the main character comes from, but I’m looking forward to it!

Holiday by Gaslight—Let me just gush a minute about how much I love Mimi Matthews’s books! I just discovered her a few months ago, and I can’t get enough! This was a very fun Victorian Christmas story about a woman from a titled but impoverished family and a self-made, wealthy man.

Last Christmas in Paris—I’ve halfway through this and loving it! I bought it simply for the title and the author, with no idea it was mostly an epistolary novel! I love a well-written novel through letters! (And it is difficult to write one well, in my opinion.)

Next up on my Christmas reading list: our own Karen Witemeyer’s An Old-Fashioned Texas Christmas (yay for the return of the Archer brothers!) and an old Grace Livingston Hill’s A Christmas Bride which I rediscovered while cleaning out my stored books. And if there is still some down time before the end of the year, possibly a re-reading of Rene Gutteridge’s Boo Humbug!

That’s my list for this year! How about you? Do you read Christmas novels/novellas? What has been your favorite this year?

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D'Ann Mateer

Inspired by novelist Eugenia Price, D’Ann’s dream of writing historical fiction with an element of faith began in middle school, though her serious drive toward publication took a bit longer. D’Ann is the author of four historical novels and one novella, as well as a contemporary short stories in a compilation volume. D’Ann and her husband of 30 years can be found in Austin, TX when they aren’t touring historic sites or visiting their grown children.

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Comments

  1. I do love to read Christmas novels and novellas at this time of year, but for some reason have only read one this year so far. I’ve only listened to (and loved) the Christmas Heirloom on audio. I’m in the hold line at the library for Last Christmas in Paris. Those others you’ve listed look good, too.

  2. I read Christmas from Thanksgiving until January. I read Christmas by Gaslight and Last Christmas in Paris last year and totally agree with your comments. Right now I am reading Noel Street by Richard Paul Evans, whom I discovered several years ago. Like all of his books, this one delves deep into the lives of his characters, exposing life changing events, mistakes, and regrets on their way to redemption. This is the third in his Noel series, but all are stand alones, not related in any way. A caution: although I love Hallmark movies, two of his Mistletoe series books were totally changed when made into movies, missing the important salient points of the novel, so read books first!
    Another one I just finished that really touched me is The Christmas Star by Donna VanLiere.

    • I haven’t read any Richard Paul Evans or Donna VanLiere so I’ll have to add those to my list for next year! 🙂 Thanks for the recommendations!

  3. Yes I read Christmas novels. There are so many good ones available that I start reading my Christmas books in October. It would be very hard to say which book I favor because they all have been very good. A new author to me is Anne Chase and I’m enjoying her Pleasant Valley Christmas series. Laura Bradford’s Killer Christmas Carol was a very good read. Michelle Griep’s Once Upon a Christmas had three delightful Christmas Tales that I really enjoyed. Patricia Davids and Marta Perry always have very nice Christmas novels . Debbie Macomber’s A Mrs Miracle Christmas was great this year. I could go on and on , but no I don’t have a Christmas favorite this year.

    • I keep meaning to read Mrs. Miracle! I need to put it higher on my list. I read Michelle Griep’s first Christmas one last year and loved it. I need to read the other 2!

  4. I start the beginning of November till the end of December. I have read Angel Creek Christmas Brides the first four in the series.THE Christmas Candle BY Max Lucado.
    An Amish cookie club Christmas by Sarah Price. Noe Street by Richard Paul Evans. The Christmas Remedy Cindy Woodsmall. Amish Christmas North Star. A Lancaster County Christmas. Suzanne Woods Fisher. An Amish Christmas Gift. The Angel of Forest Hill. Christmas by the sea. A wreath of Snow. Just finished The Westward Christmas Brides Collection: Just started A Log Cabin Christmas.

  5. Yes, I love to read Christmas stories in December. I read Terri Blackstock’s Catching Christmas this year. I think it came out around Christmastime last year, but I couldn’t get to it before the end of the year, so I saved it (and loved it!) I also read Leisha Kelly’s Til Morning Is Nigh–love her books, and I am so sad that she’s gone.

    One of my favorites from last year was a classic I had never heard of, The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, wonderfully read in an audiobook by Richard Armitage.

    I have a few more I hope to finish in the next couple of weeks.

  6. I like to reread books, so my reading this season has been Melsody Carlson’s Christmas By The Sea, Tamara Alexander’s Christmas At Carnton and the novella collection The Christmas Heirloom, written by Karen Witemeyer and three others. Love them all! I need to download An Old Fashioned Texas Christmas!

  7. Rachel Hauck’s new Wedding Dress Christmas is wonderful (like all of her books)! I also adore the Father Christmas books by Robin Jones Gunn!

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