Hey, folks!

Earlier this week, Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader posted about her most recent Christmas reads and invited me to share it on the Virtual Advent Tour. In response to her post, I thought I’d note down the holiday reads I’m either in the midst of or hoping to get to this season (through mid-January when our tree comes down):

Finished:

• A Holly Jolly Diwali, by Sonya Lalli, starts just before Diwali in the fall and carries through until Christmas (with a postlude set at the following Diwali), so I’m counting it. If you want an international romance, much of which takes place in India, and a multicultural approach to holidays, I encourage you to check it out.

Underway, but early days:

• The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese is about rival booksellers, Gabriella di Natale and Jonathan Frost, at an indie shop that is threatened by a national chain, Potters. I’m early in, but expect lots of festive wordplay and allusions to favorite holiday books and movies.
• A Winter in New York by Josie Silver focuses on a young British woman who’s moved to New York after the end of a bad relationship and still reeling from her mother’s death. Then she finds out that her mother’s beloved and secret gelato recipe may have come from a city shop.

Still to come (let me know if I should prioritize any of these):

• Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle
• A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
• The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
• Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop, edited by Otto Penzler
• The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman
• Mrs. Jeffries and the Midwinter Murders by Emily Brightwell
• The Christmas Café by Eliza Evans
• The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore (my BFF gave me this years ago and I can remember reading the start of it on the metro and cannot tell you why I didn’t finish it. I’m assuming life and figure if ever there was a year to read a Christmas satire, 2023 is it.)