Welcome Back, Booklovers! Christmas is my favorite time of year and even thoughts it's months away I can't help but be excited. So between browsing QVC for early Christmas gifts and watching Christmas TV movies I plan on squeezing in a holiday themed read. So I wanted to make a list of accessible reads for Christmas in July. My goal is to squeeze in at least two of these during the month.
For pop star Bianca Esposito, superstardom is right around the corner. In two weeks she and her chart-topping Christmas hit will be on a world tour. For now, she wants to (try to) enjoy being home for the holidays. If the creepy but, sort of cute, Rideo driver staring at her in the rearview mirror actually takes her there.
There isn't much Jaden Brooks wouldn't do for his family, including picking up a rideshare shift to help with his brother's medical bills and delivering his tipsy cousin home safely from a bar. He's the guy who always does the right thing. Never abandons his family or steps out of line, which is why he doesn't flirt with passengers or engage in awkward conversations—or ask the beautiful woman in the backseat for her number.
When Bianca and her friends end up at the same bar where Jaden picks up his cousin, it seems too coincidental. As Bianca accuses Jaden of stalking her, their heated conversation sets off sparks--and the attention of her fans. Soon, a getaway Rideo drive turns into a perfect night beneath the neon lights where hot chocolate shots and winter wonderland kisses blur into midnight marriage vows. After a media storm erupts, the pair must decide: is it possible to follow both your dreams and your heart?
Just for the Holidays by Nana Malone
Justin Morrison would do anything to make his ailing grandmother happy. Even if that means inventing a fake girlfriend to take home for the holidays. His best friend, Alex Winters, reluctantly agrees, but it’s not easy to keep her long-buried feelings for Justin under wraps when they’re sharing a room…a bed…a kiss. Christmas in Catalina is turning out to be hotter than anyone expected, but is theirs a love for all seasons?
His Holiday Gift by Reese Ryan
Pleasure Cove’s prodigal son just got the ultimate Christmas surprise—Madison, his five-year-old daughter he knew nothing about. Maddie’s aunt, Mikayla Mitchell, was once one of Dash Williams’s best friends…and his secret admirer. Now, seeing the sexy, ambitious lawyer with his little girl, Mikayla’s more smitten than ever. And Dash is starting to realize Mikayla’s the only one who could make his days merry and bright, and fill his nights with bliss…
Taylor’s architectural firm enters her in a contest to build life-sized gingerbread houses. After the contest, she’s likely to get a promotion to a position in another city. But it’s a team competition, and Taylor’s temperamental partner soon backs out. Taylor needs a replacement—fast.
When she meets Adam, a baker and single dad, she convinces him to be her partner in the contest. After all, winning would give his bakery much-needed exposure.
For years, Taylor has avoided thinking of anywhere as “home.” When she was a kid, her family was always on the move. But the time she spends with Adam and his daughter Brooke, decorating for Christmas and enjoying Philadelphia’s holiday traditions, has her questioning everything. Could she have found a place to call her own?
Greg Wong hates when things don’t go according to plan, so he definitely doesn’t appreciate it when his mother insists he drive Tasha Edwards back to Mosquito Bay for the Christmas holidays. He likes peace and quiet when he’s in the car, and that’s the opposite of what he’ll get with Tasha, his high school sweetheart. The first woman he ever loved.
All Darcy Bennett wants for Christmas is for her family's upscale Atlanta department store to stay in the family. No man, especially a stubborn—and deliciously sexy—Scrooge is going to edge her out without a fight. Bent on vengeance, new store owner Eli Austin has no problem using power to get his way. But is Darcy's feminine charm and a dash of holiday cheer enough to convince Eli to let her keep her legacy?
In a world full of mergers and takeovers, Eli does what it takes to stay in control. However, he doesn't count on the irresistible urge to unwrap Darcy like a holiday surprise. And he definitely isn't prepared to compromise with a woman whose family destroyed his own. With the magic of Christmas surrounding them, will Darcy and Eli be able to put aside their differences and realize that love is the only gift worth wishing for?
Despite sharing a birthday with the holiday, Christmas just wasn't Noelle's thing. As a kid she had been in love with the holiday, but adult Noelle just saw it as another day to get through.
Jay has moved back home after a breakup and is looking to reconnect with his childhood bestie. Cooking up a scheme to get her in the holiday spirit with her sisters, he's determined to bring back to the old Noelle.
With a combination of nostalgia, Christmas magic and a little bit of mistletoe, Noelle the First is a tale of old friends finding their way back to each other and more.
Gabby Garrett's life never goes the way she envisions. She once pictured owning an interior decorating firm and marrying a successful, intelligent gift of the gods. In reality, she has stable (but boring) job and is about to marry the “perfect” man until he surprises Gabby seconds before her Christmas wedding is set to begin. Two years later, Black Friday holds a whole new meaning. In this midst of her holiday funk, she receives two unexpected gifts—a visit from her sister and a misdirected but intriguing text message from some guy named Dave.
After weeks of texting and old-fashioned phone calls (no exchange of personal information), she and Dave believe they’re made for one another—except Dave is hiding three big secrets that may change everything. On the day they’re slated to meet, Murphy’s law strikes, and they’re left with no way to find one another.
With only two possible clues, a real estate agent for a sister, and a heart full of determination, Gabby sets on a mission to find the man of her dreams. She’s 12 Daves and 8 days away from Christmas--and the clock is ticking. But is Gabby ready for the answer to her Christmas wish…even if he comes with a package she never pictured?
A decade after leaving home, culinary magazine editor Symone Farris is heading back to Kiawah Island for the holidays. She’s escaping New York and a failed engagement to reconnect with her grandmother’s storied restaurant and speakeasy, The Haint. But before she can say “Merry Christmas,” she’s fighting her mother’s campaign to sell the beloved establishment to the local real estate developer and love she left behind without notice ten years ago.
Rhue Baines loves three things, Christmas, family, and the Lowcountry sea islands he calls home. He understands the needs of his island community because he’s never left. When his ex, Symone blows back into town demanding he stop the planned redevelopment of her family’s land, he’s determined to get his way.
As Christmas approaches they both begin to remember what made them fall in love all those years ago. But when the past finally catches up with them, can their hearts survive the crash?
This is absolutely rude (thank you for the recs!) and I will simply ignore this list until I have the time to actually read them. Hahaha
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can squeeze one in. A short one
DeleteA KIAWAH ISLAND CHRISTMAS ROMANCE?! I must pick it up!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading it now
Delete