Make the Season Merry With 2022’s Best New Holiday Romance Books

Maggie Knox returns with “All I Want For Christmas,” combining a holiday setting with a reality-TV premise and a fake-dating trope. Sadie and Max are contestants in a TV music competition, but they’re shocked when fans begin shipping them after performing a duet together. Desperate for the positive media attention, the producers insist that the pair keep up the ruse until the end of the show – or say goodbye to their dreams of music stardom. As they struggle to maintain appearances, Sadie and Max start to get to know each other for real, and they just might like what they find out.

Fans of Lyssa Kay Adams’s Bromance Book Club series will be delighted to see the first holiday-themed installment, “A Very Merry Bromance.” This time, country-music star Colton takes the spotlight, trying to get over heartbreak with the help of his pals. Meanwhile, his ex Gretchen, an immigration attorney, is struggling with an offer from her wealthy family. When she agrees to three dates with Colton in exchange for getting him to be the face of her family’s new brand, he’ll do anything to prove to her that the spark between them is worth fighting for.

There aren’t nearly as many Hanukkah-themed romances out there as Christmas-themed ones, but books like Marcella Bell’s “Snowbound in Her Boss’s Bed” are slowly building up the genre. This steamy forced-proximity romance follows Miriam, an event planner who finds herself snowed in at CEO Benjamin’s Aspen chalet on the first night of Hanukkah. As they wait for the storm to pass, they try to fight the growing attraction between them – and romance fans can guess what happens next!

Looking for something light and sweet? Check out “The Christmas Clash,” the latest YA romance from Suzanne Park. Chloe Kwon and Peter Li have been rivals for years, especially since their families own rival restaurants in a faltering mall food court. This holiday season, though, Chloe and Peter have to set aside their differences when they learn that the mall is going to be sold and demolished. Together, they try to rally the mall’s longtime tenants to oppose the sale and save their stores – and they just might discover they don’t hate each other at all.

If you love romances set in quirky small towns, then “In the Event of Love” by Courtney Kae is for you. When her event-planning career takes a nosedive, Morgan reluctantly heads home to the small town of Fern Falls. Her holidays get even more awkward when she runs into Rachel: her former BFF, first kiss, and former crush. After learning that Rachel’s family’s tree farm is the last holdout standing in the way of a corporate takeover of their town, Morgan vows to plan the best event ever to save Fern Falls, all while, perhaps, getting a second chance at first love.

Jenny Holiday continues her royal Christmas series with the third installment, “So This Is Christmas.” Matteo, the adviser to the king of Eldovia, is flummoxed when he must work with Cara, an American business consultant brought in to help overhaul the kingdom’s finances. As they work together and the holidays approach, their chilly relationship starts to thaw, but will it be enough to overcome Matteo’s intense sense of self-sacrifice and service to the crown?

Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone team up for “A Merry Little Meet Cute,” a joyful holiday rom-com full of mixed signals and Christmas movie cliches (in the best possible way). Bee has a successful secret second life as Bianca Von Honey, a plus-size adult film star. When she’s cast in a cute, made-for-TV holiday movie opposite Nolan, an ex-boy bander in need of a career pivot, she’s forced to keep her “other life” under wraps. Sparks fly after Nolan recognizes Bee, and their steamy secret flirtation only gets trickier when a reporter comes nosing around the set. It’s up to them to make sure they get a happily ever after, both on screen and off.

Jake Maia Arlow puts a sapphic, Jewish twist on the classic holiday romance with “How to Excavate a Heart.” Shani and May have more of a “meet ugly” than a “meet cute” when, distracted by her paleoichthyology research and her recent breakup, Shani bumps into May with her car. When the two cross paths again, sparks fly, and things heat up when they’re snowed in together. As things begin to feel more serious, Shani has to be honest with May and with herself: is she ready to fall in love again, or will this just be a quick fling?

Codi Hall’s second holiday romance, “There’s Something About Merry,” features a tree farm, a grumpy single dad, and online-dating shenanigans. Merry isn’t feeling optimistic about her romantic odds in her small town, and the only guy who catches her eye turns out to be Clark, the foreman at her family’s tree farm. When Clark realizes Merry is the woman behind his online-dating pen pal, his surprise nearly ruins the whole thing, and it might take a holiday miracle to get things back on track.

In Jenny Bayliss’s third holiday-themed romance, “Meet Me Under the Mistletoe,” bookshop owner Nory reluctantly agrees to reunite with her rich, posh school friends for a destination wedding at a beautiful old castle. While there, Nory has to face up to an ill-advised, long-ago mistake, while also reconnecting with Isaac, the castle’s head gardener, and another old acquaintance. As secrets come to light, Nory learns about an even bigger story that Isaac has uncovered, but pursuing it could threaten the fragile bond growing between them.

In “Once Upon a December” by Amy E. Reichert, holiday magic is literal. Jack, whose family bakes the most delicious kringles, is part of a mysterious group of people who reside in a magical street and jump from December to December, leaving no trace behind. When Astra visits her local Christmas market in hopes of some holiday cheer, she and Jack form a connection – but the magic means she forgets him every year. They’ll need another kind of magic to make it work outside these few weeks each December.

A charming Christmas tree farm run by a Jewish family is the setting for Helena Greer’s “Season of Love.” After her great-aunt dies and leaves her as part owner of the farm, artist Miriam would really rather just get through the mourning rites, avoid her parents, and leave town again. Unfortunately, those plans go awry when she learns that the farm is in danger of going out of business. Miriam has to work with Noelle, the farm’s grumpy and mistrustful manager, to save the family farm, all while fighting the very inconvenient attraction between them.

The only thing better than a holiday love story is a holiday love story with dogs! That’s exactly what Annie England Noblin understands with “Christmas in Blue Dog Valley,” the story of Goldie, an A-list veterinarian who impulsively upends her life to start over in the small farming town of Blue Dog Valley. It takes a while for her to get used to the quirky animals and equally quirky residents, especially the town grump, Cohen, who’s not thrilled about her arrival. When Goldie decides to try to help revitalize the town with a Christmas carnival, she and Cohen have to work together, forcing them to learn how much they have in common.

Titles don’t get much more straightforward than “Holiday Romance” by Catherine Walsh! Molly and Andrew are friends by circumstance: every year for a decade, they’ve sat next to each other on the last flight before Christmas to get them from Chicago to Dublin, catching up on each other’s lives. When a freak snowstorm grounds this year’s flight, Molly is determined to find a way to get them home for the holidays no matter what. What starts out as a chaotic adventure slowly turns into a way for these longtime friends to realize their feelings for each other have changed.

You’ve heard about the “holiday spirit,” but in Sarah Hogle’s new book, “Just Likde Magic,” that spirit isn’t just a figure of speech. Bettie is living with a big secret: she pretends to have a glamorous life of luxury on social media, but in reality, she’s broke, and even her family has no idea. When she accidentally conjures up the literal Holiday Spirit (in the form of a very handsome man named Hall), she thinks she’s got the answer to all her problems. But as she spends more time with Hall, she starts to wonder if the life she’s been living – or pretending to live – is really what she wants.

A Christmas Eve meet-cute forms the center of Alison Cochrun’s latest, “Kiss Her Once For Me.” One year ago, Ellie had a magical, immediate connection with a stranger – then, in the days following, she lost her new romance and her job. This year, she’s agreed to her friend Andrew’s harebrained scheme: a marriage of convenience to help him with his inheritance and help her with her financial woes. The problem arises when the fake couple travel to spend the holidays with Andrew’s family, and Andrew’s sister Jack turns out to be Ellie’s Christmas Eve connection.

If “The Holiday” tops your annual holiday-movies-to-watch list, then Roan Parrish’s “The Holiday Trap” should be on this year’s to-read list! Greta needs to escape from her well-meaning but meddling family in her small Maine town, while Truman desperately wants out of Louisiana after learning that his boyfriend has a husband and kids. When a mutual friend suggests that Greta and Truman swap homes for the holidays, it gives them a chance to refresh their lives and see the possibilities out there. But when the month-long experiment comes to an end, they’ll have to decide if they’re ready to make big changes or if it was all just a break from reality.

Promoted as a holiday romance with “Schitt’s Creek” vibes, “You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince” by Timothy Janovsky puts a Christmas-themed twist on the fish-out-of-water trope. Rich, spoiled Matthew makes one wrong move, and the bad PR results in him getting sent to spend the holidays with his grandparents in their small town. Forced into proximity with charming local Hector, Matthew hates everything about this town. When an opportunity arises to prove (publicly, at least) that he’s learned his lesson, Matthew jumps at the chance, but just like any Grinch, he might find his heart growing unexpectedly instead.