I love Christmas books. It probably started way back when with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and it stuck. With five kids, we’ve had story time almost every night for the last twenty years. Each year I’d buy a new holiday picture book to add to the collection. Now that collection fills 1 1/2 plastic bins! We have some favorites: A Little House on the Prairie Christmas; Auntie Claus; Olive, the Other Reindeer; A Gargoyle Christmas. I could go on. Suffice it to say, there is an abundance of great books out there for the twelve days of Christmas…and then some.
As an adult, I haven’t outgrown my love of a good holiday story. Every November and December, I read several Christmas-themed books. They help put me in the spirit and infuse the days and evenings with the sights and sounds of the seasons, via my imagination. They create a little extra magic during an already magical time. I’m a writer, so I’ve also centered a story in each of my different mystery series around the holidays.
I’ve made a list of a few of my favorite awesome holiday reads, grown-up style, to help you celebrate the season with a little Christmas joy, mystery, and romance. Enjoy!
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First up is The Lola Cruz Christmas Story (one of my books!). It’s a 32 page novella and is free on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, KOBO, Sony, and everywhere else digital books are sold. It’s my own holiday treat for readers everywhere. Get a taste of Lola Cruz, PI, and experience a little Christmas magic in the process.
The Lola Cruz Christmas, by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez
The Lola Cruz Christmas Story is a short, holiday prequel to Living the Vida Lola. Lola is summoned by a woman from her past and becomes part of her own Christmas story as she leads Margo Callaghan to safety.
Download now for free!
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Deadly Patterns, by Melissa Bourbon
A dead Santa, a baby in a manger, and a Christmas fashion show and pageant in Bliss, Texas. It’s nothing but holiday magic and mayhem!
Bliss, Texas, is gearing up for its annual Winter Wonderland festival, but when a mysterious Scrooge ends the merriment with murder, it ™ll take more than a ghost from Christmas past to set things right.
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Baby it’s Cold Outside, by Addison Fox (friend and local Dallas writer!)
But Sloan can’t deny the appeal of the rugged local men-Walker Montgomery in particular. Soon she finds herself falling in love with the wild outdoors…and with one of Indigo’s most beloved residents. There’s just one question that remains: is the town’s most confirmed bachelor ready to get caught?
Holiday in Crimson, by Patricia Rosemoor
Westbrook Department Store’s Christmas party wasn’t that wild–until, that is, Santa ended up dead. Now window designer Shelby Corbin is the prime suspect in his murder, and the holidays are anything but festive. If Shelby doesn’t figure out who killed Santa, she’ll be ringing in the new year behind bars.Westbrook’s impossibly sexy co-owner and CEO Rand McNabb’s romantic attentions both thrill and frighten Shelby. But is he really helping her search for the truth about that fatal night? Or does Rand have a deadlier motive for courting the only possible witness to the crime…?
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Baby it’s Cold Outside, a Christmas Anthology
Four novellas from four of the biggest names in romantic fictionKate Hardy’s ‘TIS THE SEASON TO KISS SANTAWith the help of a sprig of mistletoe and some snow angels, a recently single pastry chef teaches a highly successful and sexy Scrooge the true meaning of the holidays on a snowy Christmas Eve that quickly heats up.Heidi Rice’s ‘TIS THE SEASON TO GO SHOPPINGWhen a Christmas Day blizzard strands an up-and-coming marketing manager and her boss’s very off-limits, very hot playboy son in his department store, the two toe the line between naughty and nice as they unwrap their holiday presents ”and each other!
Amy Andrews's ˜TIS THE SEASON FOR KISSING
A down-on-her-romantic-luck kindergarten teacher plans to drown her New Year's Eve sorrows in a gallon of spiked eggnog, but the arrival of her best friend’s sexy brother threatens to melt the snow piling up outside the tiny Vermont cabin.
Aimee Carson's ˜TIS THE SEASON TO BE TEMPTED
After the worst year ever, a jilted music manager rings in the New Year alone, swearing off men forever. But things get complicated when her brother’s best friend, the perfect man with the perfect body, tempts her to break her vow ”if only for one hot night!
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Holiday Grind, by Cleo Coyle
The Billionaire’s Christmas Baby, by Victoria James
