The people at St. Martin's Press came up with a Naughty or Nice list for your Holiday reading. Depending on what you prefer they compiled a list of both naughty and nice for your reading enjoyment. I have been reading Christmas Romance since October so I have thrown in one or two that I enjoyed reading. Now for the Nice List a collection of books and novellas that could be Hallmark Channel movies.
by Lily Everett
I absolutely adored this book. It reminded me one one of my favorite black and white movies, A Christmas in Connecticut. This is book four in the Sanctuary Island series, but I read it just fine as a stand-alone. This was a very warm and inviting Christmas Romance with just the right amount of humor and strife. Libby Leeds is a writer her prefered medium is fiction but when a magazine offered her a permanent spot for her lifestyles column she suddenly realizes they think her fictional dream world was real. Libby wanted to tell the truth but when her Uncle Ray was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and in need for a nursing home with round the clock care she takes the job. He column because a huge success and when a wounded soldier wants the perfect Christmas for the daughter he has never meet, the magazine publisher jumps at the chance for Libby and her family to give them the perfect Christmas. Libby is forced to tell her publisher the truth, and with the threat of suing her and ruining her career she is forced to comply. She called the grandfather she never meet and he agreed to help and promptly took charge. Owen Shepard never knew he had a daughter until her mother died, asking his sister the Sheriff to take of her. Now that he was wounded and has been medically discharged he is home for good unless he can prove the doctors wrong and get back to combat ready form. Wanting to make it up to the daughter he loves very much that he never knew he is determined to make Christmas perfect. The elaborate lie has Libby married but soon Libby and Owen are falling in love, and the truth must come out before it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
by Donna Alward
This was a really sweet one a very subtle story that kind of creeps it's way into your heart. a Jewell Cove Christmas novella can be read as a stand-alone. Todd Ricker and Lainey Price have known each other for almost all their lives. Todd always had a thing for her but never thought he was good enough for her. Lainey Price went off to college and came back engaged to a guy Todd didn't really care for. The engagement ended rather abruptly leaving Lainey alone and slowly growing bitter. One night right before Christmas a bad storm blows in and traps Todd at the Evergreen Inn which Lainey runs, Todd finally admits he has always liked Lainey but she is skeptical because of the time of year. Her engagement ended at Christmas and the holiday has lost it's joy for her. Todd aims to change that convincing her not to let her ex ruin Christmas for her and if Lainey tries maybe she can even let Todd into her heart.
by Maggie McGinnis
Probably the sweetest and exciting second chance Christmas Romance I have read this year. Yet another novella that can be read just fines as a stand-alone. Noah is a travel writer always on the lookout for his next adrenaline high, he takes people out and shows them thrills and adventure. Piper is a homebody who doesn't even like roller coasters, but somehow these two managed to fall in love. But after onto many trips to the hospital Piper is afraid of what will happen to him one day and she'll never get him back. Noah doesn't understand what he thinks is her irrational fear, so as much as it broke both their hearts Piper broke up with Noah and he did nothing to get her back. Years later Noah is back in Echo Lake subconsciously hoping to find Piper still single. Piper is never having got over Noah and all the old feeling still there but Piper not willing to surrender to them. Noah asks for one thing help Christmas shopping. A blizzard comes in and traps them at a diner over night and on the way back home the next morning they discover a car that went over a cliff the passengers only hope is Piper. When the whole thing is done Piper finally confides in him why she the way she is and why she is scared it will happen to him too. But does Noah fully understand Piper? This was a nice read that has a little but of everything in it.
Heartsong Cottage
by Emily March
I love the Eternity Spring series, and this book is one of my favorites. Emily March is very good at pulling people through hell and back and then still making them work for their HEA, and it is a tear jerking journey and an absolute pleasure to read. Two people get a second chance at love and family. Daniel is a widower who has also lost his son and changed his career to help other families find their lost lovdones too. Shannon is on the run from a sociopathic stalker and they find with each other they find the second chances they never thought they could have or deserved.
My Holiday Pick
Falling for Her Enemy
by Victoria James
I picked this for my nice list because I really can picture this as one of those emotional, heartfelt Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. It is part of a series but I felt like I knew everyone already. It was beautifully written in a Canadian setting (if you didn't know already) it really makes you feel as if you are part of the book. You fall in love with both the main characters and you really sympathize with them and you want them both to get what they want.Alex McAllister thought her life was on the right path until her soon be be brother-in-law informs her the daughter she adopted and has been raising on her own might be the daughter of his latest client and there is a good chance she might lose her daughter if he really is the father; and to top it all off the bakery she has slavered over hoping to buy needs to be sold now and she doesn't have the funds for it.
Hayden Brooks never thought he wanted to be a father until he discovered he might have a daughter out there. He was approached by a one night stand and said she had is baby and that she's going to extort a buttload of money out of him just to keep the story quiet. Hayden doesn't fall for it quite that easily, he wants proof first. He thinks he found his daughter and wants the paternity test to prove it. When he first approached his daughter's adopted mother he never expected her to be so beautiful, and that just made things worse the more time he spent with Alex and her daughter the more torn he became of wishing the girl was his but not wanting to break Alex's heart. Why did Hayden have to be such a good person and why does Alex have to have feelings for him. Alex is torn as well, she should be able to fall in love with the man who will take away her daughter.
They both have their reasons for wanting the girl, and both love her very much but will the truth bring them together or just tear them apart.
I enjoy reading Holiday Romance and there are so many to pick from, I hope you can create a perfect list of your own.
