5 festive books on my must-read list this Christmas season
I’m so delighted to be joining in with another top 5 Tuesday post (albeit a little late). Top 5 Tuesday is a meme hosted by lovely Meeghan at Meeghan Reads – you can see lists of prompts for the rest of the year here – one of my bloggy resolutions next year is going to be to post these more regularly! This week’s theme was a freebie and since I’ve been organising my shelves and pulling together my tbr of festive reads I thought that would be a good one to share.
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Everyone this Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.
So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.
THE MAGICIAN
THE ASSISTANT
THE EXECUTIVE
THE HYPNOTIST
THE TWIN
THE COUNSELLOR
THE TECH
My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there; A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens; And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.
If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it.
After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?
I picked this one up a week or so ago and then went to an event to see Benjamin Stevenson in conversation about it with Jack Heath, which was fabulous (and should pop up as a podcast here any day now). I haven’t read any of his other books, but this one sounds like an absolute cracker and I’m very much looking forward to it.
A Country Farm Christmas
A Country Farm Christmas includes 4 festive stories from some great names in Aussie romance
The Christmas Contract by Pamela Cook
Bridie has until Christmas to convince her dad not to pull the loan he gave her to set up her organic produce farm. So when she gets an unexpected offer of assistance from her elderly neighbour’s son – the same elderly neighbour who’s been actively trying to railroad her into selling – she can’t say no. Are all the resulting feels another complication or exactly what she needs?
A Fairytale for Christmas by Penelope Janu
Big-city lawyer Juliette is living a small-town life in Ballimore for one reason only – to save her career by Christmas. Which is why she should say no to helping the town, no to taking over the fairytale cabin in the forest, and no to challenging the impossibly attractive farmer and local-boy-made-good, Beau. A past left behind, a reimagined future. Can there be a happy ending to this fairytale?
The Christmas Kindness Project by Lily Malone
After the break-up of her 26-year marriage, high-flying property manager Rosie returns to Chalk Hill to start over. When she’s nominated to represent her new employer in the Christmas Kindness Project, Rosie struggles in the competition spotlight. Then enigmatic real estate valuer Fletcher takes an interest in her ideas. If it’s not a hot flush, maybe Rosie’s love life is finally heating up.
Christmas at Yindi Creek by Stella Quinn
Angela arrives in Yindi Creek desperate to restore her late mother’s opal earring only to discover the opal dealers are closed for the summer. Robbie spends his days with his sheep, determinedly not looking at the white cross planted by the gates of his property. But the meddlesome locals reckon he’s grieved long enough, and it doesn’t take them long to hatch a devious (but romantic!) plan …
I wrote a bit about how much I was looking forward to this collection a few weeks ago. I think the short format of the stories lends itself so well to reading during the busy festive season. A little bonus pick for festive short stories is 12 Tropes of Christmas, which I talked a bit about in this post.
The team at HQ Fiction kindly sent me an early copy of this one for review.
All I want for Christmas by Karen Swan
Christmas in Copenhagen is an utterly magical time of year – there are charming Christmas markets, carol singing on the canals, ice skating in the parks and cosy cafes to shelter from the early snow but Darcy Cotterell is not feeling remotely festive. Newly single, she’s not even going home for Christmas but will instead spend the holiday finishing her PhD. Her best friend, Freja, has other ideas though and convinces Darcy to sign up to an upmarket dating site where she can meet the city’s most eligible bachelors. Freja is determined that Darcy won’t be lonely this Christmas and gets her to agree to match with three potential dates.
Then Darcy is given the job of solving a new, intriguing art mystery: an unknown portrait by Denmark’s greatest painter has been found beneath another masterpiece and she must discover the identity of the woman in the painting. During her research, she encounters sexy, arrogant lawyer Max Lorensen – who happens to be bachelor number one! The attraction is instant but there are two problems: Max is clearly a player and, while the chemistry between them is hard to ignore, they also need to work together whatever happens . . .
There was no way I could pass up a Christmassy novel set in gorgeous Copenhagen – especially after we spent some time there this year and I’m still pining to be back! I really feel like Christmas – jul – in Denmark is so cosy and wonderful and I’m really hoping to get some of those vibes from this book.
Mary Christmas by Mary-Anne O’Connor
It’s 1909 and Mary Richards has worked hard to gain an education and become a teacher in her close-knit, picturesque village in the Cotswolds, but not everyone approves of her modern ways.
When her sister Emily becomes engaged to David Christmas, it seems fate will intervene in the form of the best man: his eligible brother Johnathon. Mary finds herself in danger of falling for this handsome, almost too perfect stranger, only married women have to give up their careers as soon as they’re wed and there’s no way Mary is going to sacrifice her dreams for a man.
Yet the ancient village of Bibury has a way of weaving its enchantments over them all, and as the winter snows fall and Emily’s Christmas-Day wedding approaches, Mary isn’t immune to the romance of the season. In the end she must decide whether she’s ready to embrace love or not, and if she can truly have the best of both worlds on the eve of what could well be the most magical Christmas of them all.
I do love historical fiction focussed on women and by Aussie authors, so Mary-Anne O’Connor’s Mary Christmas caught my eye right away when I spotted it in a publicity catalogue a little while ago (also how could it not with that cover!). The team at Penguin very kindly sent me an early copy of this one for review, and I think it might be next up after I finish my current read!
Christmas and Other Horrors edited by Ellen Datlow
The winter solstice is celebrated as a time of joy around the world—yet the long winter nights also summon a darker tradition of ghouls, ghost tales, and horror. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together—for better and for worse.
From the terrifying Austrian Schnabelperchten to the skeletal Welsh Mari Lwyd, by way of ravenous golems, uncanny neighbors, and unwelcome visitors, Christmas and Other Horrors captures the heart and horror of the winter season.
Because the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is hungry…
Ok, so this isn’t my usual kind of Christmas fare. In fact, I’ve never thought of myself as much of a fan of horror at all. Over the past few years of being on judging panels for the Aurealis Awards, however, I have read a few things that I wouldn’t necessarily have picked up otherwise and have really enjoyed some of the novels that lean towards horror. I’m quite keen to add a bit more horror into my reading life, but have also been a bit reluctant to start because “horror” covers such a range of material, some of which will be for me and some of which I’m still too scared to read. When I spotted Christmas and Other Horrors on the shelves of a local bookstore and saw how many great authors have contributed stories, I figured it was a great way to dip my toe in and see if I can find a few authors with horror vibes that suit me.
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So that’s the top of my festive TBR this year. I have so many more Christmassy titles loaded on my kindle, or sitting on my shelves, romcoms in particular, that I might also have a chance to read and review here. As always, I’m keen to hear about what you’re planning to read over the Christmas season – do you love a festive read too? Are any of these titles on your TBR too? Let’s chat in the comments!
Big thanks to Meeghan for hosting Top 5 Tuesday – don’t forget to pop over and check out her post if you want to see what else bookish bloggers are ranking this week!
xo Bron
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