The best holiday romance books

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an award winning author who loves a good romance. I love when two unlikely people meet under challenging circumstance. Bringing these two characters together has been the basis of all fourteen of my books. Home For The Holidays took a series of short stories and blended two of my favorite events finding love and the holidays. 


I wrote...

Home For The Holidays

By Mavis Applewater,

Book cover of Home For The Holidays

What is my book about?

Teresa is looking forward to the holiday weekend until her mother asks for a simple favor. Could she drive someone home for the holiday? A simple request except the person she is being asked to drive is her ex-lover Lindsey. Follow Teresa and Lindsay through a series of holiday romps in this 2007 Goldie Finalist for Best Erotica.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Who'll Be Dead For Christmas?

Mavis Applewater Why did I love this book?

Take an accident-prone detective add romance and a murder and you have an amusing Christmas tale like no other. Kate Ryan moves back to her old neighborhood in Chicago. It is one week before Christmas and someone at the hospital where Maggie works has the bad manners to die. In this Kate Ryan mystery, the reader is treated to an amusing holiday tale.

By Kate Sweeney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Who'll Be Dead For Christmas? as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A week before Christmas, Kate Ryan moves back into her old neighborhood on the North side of Chicago. Back where she started and ended her P.I. business. Kate purchases a renovated brownstone and she gets it for a song. When Kate finds out that the former tenant, a scientist, was murdered in the kitchen, she understands why she got it so cheap.

Is it a coincidence the dead doctor worked at University Hospital with Maggie? When Kate accidentally discovers a journal from the murdered scientist in the brick wall of her fireplace, she realizes it is not.

All of the…


Book cover of The Bureau of Holiday Affairs

Mavis Applewater Why did I love this book?

Andi Marquette offers a treat in this sexy holiday tale executive Robin Preston is visited by the Bureau of Holiday Affairs. After spending her life climbing the corporate ladder she chose to succeed no matter the cost. In this Dickens style holiday romp Robin is visited by three ghosts in hopes that she will see the error of her ways.

By Andi Marquette,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bureau of Holiday Affairs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Executive Robin Preston has dedicated her life to climbing the corporate ladder, using whatever means necessary. In the shark-infested culture at Frost Enterprises, anything goes, and Robin is a master at the game.

On the verge of a major promotion, Robin receives a strange visit from Agent Elizabeth Tolson of the Bureau of Holiday Affairs, who informs Robin that, though Robin may be a lost cause, the Bureau has scheduled her for intervention. Robin will receive three visitors in the two weeks before Christmas, who will escort her on visits to her past, present, and future.

Robin will be forced…


Book cover of Snow Globe

Mavis Applewater Why did I love this book?

In this holiday romance presented by Georgia Beers, Mackenzie Campbell is planning the perfect holiday wedding. Everything is on track until her fiancé dumps her. Shattered and confused she decides to go on her honeymoon. She enlists her best friend Allison to go along with her. Shedding the cold weather, they head to Florida. Kenzie doesn’t realize that the adventure is about to begin.

By Georgia Beers,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Snow Globe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Mackenzie Campbell has no idea her life is about to fall apart. She’s bright and attractive with a good job, a comfortable home and an impending Christmas wedding she’s been planning for months. So when her girlfriend bails less than two weeks before the nuptials, Kenzie’s picture perfect Christmas world begins to crumble around her.

Determined to hold on to at least some shred of her dignity, Kenzie snags her best friend, Allison, and flees the cold of the Northeast to take the honeymoon anyway. The Rainbow’s Edge is an enormous LGBT resort in Southern Florida, and its atmosphere of…


Book cover of The Great Charade

Mavis Applewater Why did I love this book?

Abby finds herself in a miserable position. She must go home for the holidays. Normally, not a dreaded situation. After all her entire family will be there. Including her brother and his fiancé. The only hiccup is her brother’s girlfriend is her ex-girlfriend. She doesn’t trust her ex who lures her into bed every chance she gets. Abby comes of with a sure fire plan to stop that from happening, she brings a pretend girlfriend to keep things from getting out of hand. A perfect plan she just hadn’t planned on falling in love.

By Gerri Hill,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Great Charade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Abby Carpenter is in a tailspin knowing she is about to spend ten days in the company of her ex-girlfriend—who is now engaged to her brother—for a family holiday gathering in Red River, New Mexico. The same ex-girlfriend who last year at Christmas had lured her into bed. Abby’s solution? A pretend girlfriend for the holidays would surely keep her ex away and in her own room at night, right?

Nic Bennett’s life has been far from ideal and Christmas is her most dreaded holiday of all as she relives horrors from the past. When an attractive stranger approaches her…


Book cover of Kellen's Moment

Mavis Applewater Why did I love this book?

Robin Alexander is one of my favorite author’s. She blends romance and humor into a heart warming tale. Kellen is looking for that perfect moment. The perfect person to share her life with. Finally, she is convinced that she’s found her. There is one major problem, the love of her life Stevie is a Sealy and Kellen is a McLin. Much like the Haitfields and the McCoys the McLin’s and the Sealys do not mix.

By Robin Alexander,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Kellen's Moment as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kellen McLin has been waiting for her moment for a long time. She says when two people who are meant to be together find each other, they know it instantly. Kellen believes her moment girl has finally arrived, but there’s one big problem—she’s a Sealy. The McLins and the Sealys are south Louisiana’s version of the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Stevie Sealy left Louisiana for college and didn’t return except for holiday visits with her family. After a breakup with her boyfriend, she decides to move back to the town of Sealy temporarily. She never really understood or wanted to…


You might also like...

Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

By Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

Book cover of Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

Patrick G. Cox Author Of Ned Farrier Master Mariner: Call of the Cape

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

On the expertise I claim only a deep interest in history, leadership, and social history. After some thirty-six years in the fire and emergency services I can, I think, claim to have seen the best and the worst of human behaviour and condition. History, particularly naval history, has always been one of my interests and the Battle of Jutland is a truly fascinating study in the importance of communication between the leader and every level between him/her and the people performing whatever task is required.  In my own career, on a very much smaller scale, this is a lesson every officer learns very quickly.

Patrick's book list on the Battle of Jutland

What is my book about?

Captain Heron finds himself embroiled in a conflict that threatens to bring down the world order he is sworn to defend when a secretive Consortium seeks to undermine the World Treaty Organisation and the democracies it represents as he oversees the building and commissioning of a new starship.

When the Consortium employs an assassin from the Pantheon, it becomes personal.

Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

By Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

What is this book about?

The year is 2202, and the recently widowed Captain James Heron is appointed to stand by his next command, the starship NECS Vanguard, while she is being built. He and his team soon discover that they are battling the Consortium, a shadowy corporate group that seeks to steal the specs for the ship’s new super weapon. The Consortium hires the Pantheon, a mysterious espionage agency, to do their dirty work as they lay plans to take down the Fleet and gain supreme power on an intergalactic scale. When Pantheon Agent Bast and her team kidnap Felicity Rowanberg, a Fleet agent…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Christmas, Florida, and Chicago?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about Christmas, Florida, and Chicago.

Christmas Explore 247 books about Christmas
Florida Explore 128 books about Florida
Chicago Explore 369 books about Chicago