Hello, my darlings! It's been too too long! Lovely to be back here on Breathless to bring you my bumper Christmas reading suggestions - and we're spoilt for choice.
Let's dive into what I've already enjoyed.
I know I'm super-duper predictable, but Debbie Macomber always makes my Top Ten (Top Eleven this year). Her novella Jack Frost was a gorgeous start to Christmas reading with a grumpy/sunshine pairing. When Jack and Lindsay get accidentally locked into their work Christmas party when everyone leaves, Jack is totally a super grump. But only at first... Enjoy!
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I'm sure you read The Christmas Bookshop by the Scottish author Jenny Colgan last year. Did you worry that Carmen's relationship needed a bit more resolution at the end? Fear not, here is the sequel, Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop. It's worth reading both books because they're all about saving Mr McCredie's old bookshop, and that booky story thread is utterly fab and quite funny in parts. Set in snowy Edinburgh, it makes me want to go back there.
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I was thrilled when I found
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by
Susan Wiggs in my library! Who could resist those furry little faces? Christmas-hating Brenda gets roped into driving twelve rescue dogs across the US to their new owners for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately something does...and hot single dad paramedic Adam comes to the rescue. Can he change Brenda's mind about Christmas? And wow, all those dogs involve some lovely mini stories too. A must for dog lovers and actually, everyone.
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Do you know, so many
many lists of favourite Christmas romances include Rosamunde Pilcher's
Winter Solstice. It's also continually listed as a comfort read, 'one I reread every Christmas', 'on my keeper shelf' and so on. I decided to read it myself this year, and now I totally get what everyone is talking about. It is
gorgeous, my friends, about a group of people who've made some right and wrong choices in their lives, even had tragedy occur, but they bravely struggle on and eventually all end up together one snowy Christmas. Oh my dears, there's so much
love in this book it will fill your heart.
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Back to Sydney, Australia, and beautiful Manly Beach, which features highly in
Belinda Williams' new novella
The Christmas Escape. It might be a shorter book but it is mighty, tackling the problems of long distance relationships. Do they really work or is it all too hard? Well, cough, if you came all the way from England and met Jaz, professional surfer, single father and cafe owner, you might be inclined to change your mind.
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We all know and love
Mary Jo Putney, and she's given us a
kitten for Christmas, in her new novella
The Christmas Tart. We
so need kittens at Christmas, and also need the very nice new baronet Sir Philip Selbourne. Yes, please (gets stocking ready...). This one's quick enough to read in a sitting, the perfect length in this busy time.
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Hang in there, five final Christmas books. I haven't read these, but December's looking excellent to do so.
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We'll Never Have Paris by
Adriana Anders. This is described as another grumpy/sunshine book (I cannot get enough of these) when the grump (a Welshman) and the sunshine (an American) get stuck in an elevator on Christmas Eve. But seriously:
Paris! On Christmas Eve! Say no more!
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For those who love a hot Christmas, and vets, this is high on my TBR:
A Country Vet Christmas by five - count 'em,
five beloved Aussie authors:
Lily Malone,
Alissa Callen,
Penelope Janu,
Pamela Cook and
Stella Quinn. What a fabulous anthology for a very modest price. 667 pages of great reading ahead, I can't wait. Fellow Breathless blogger
Enisa Haines mentioned this in her column last month, but it's such great value I'm going to recommend it again.
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Last but definitely not least - and probably not the last (cough) on account of all I can see in my Kindle are more and more and
more Christmas books - I found this charming inspirational romance,
The Doctor's Christmas Dilemma by a new-to-me author,
Danielle Thorne. I'm really looking forward to it: a second chance of love with a bit of faith thrown in. Sounds perfect.
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So that's me, folks. Be kind to each other, be generous, be loving, be safe. And of course read as much as you can. May your Christmas be full of booky goodness and lazy days to enjoy it all. See you in 2024!
With love for a happy Christmas and a wonderful new year,
Miranda xx
Love to Love:
I guess we all know I'm going to say, Christmas romance!
Love to Laugh:
...and cry, through all the delightful Christmas movies now screening. So much Christmas festiveness and hot chocolate and wow, emotion.
Love to Learn:
What is special to you at Christmas. To me it's family, faith, friends, fun, and love. Always love. And food! You?