The winter holiday romance novel has become a staple of the holiday reading season. You’ll know one when you see it — its cover might be graced with candy canes, mittens, skis, fir trees, or anything else that says “winter.” Like its movie equivalent on the Hallmark Channel, you’re guaranteed a meet-cute, some obstacles, a satisfying resolution, and a seasonal good time that won’t depress you. Here are 3 picks:
A Merry Little Meet Cute
Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone (fiction, Avon)
Bee Hobbes is thriving in her career as plus-sized adult film star Bianca Von Honey. When her favorite producer asks her to star in a wholesome Christmas movie he’s making for the very proper Hope Channel, Bee is forced to keep her racy “Bianca” persona on the down low. Then it turns out her co-star is Nolan Shaw, a former boy band member who’s in desperate need of an image makeover. When he recognizes Bee — “Bianca” — from his ClosedDoors account, the two are suddenly sneaking around behind closed doors, desperate to keep their relationship a secret.
The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique
Samantha Vérant (fiction, Berkley)
Kate Jenkins is a talented American chef about to open her dream restaurant, Bistro Exotique, in Paris. A hard worker, she’s undeterred by her sexy neighbor — he dismisses her as a crazy American tourist — and by proclamations of doom from the Garrance, the so-called Spice Master of Paris, who warns her that the previous restaurant owner failed spectacularly. Kate stays calm until a series of events threaten to upend her restaurant and the entire staff quits. When Garrance offers to use spices and scents to help her, it comes with a price: Kate must work with Garrance’s son, a top chef, a total jerk — and possibly, despite her initial reaction, a new love interest.
Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
Jenny Bayliss (fiction, GP Putnam’s Sons)
Nory Noel is happily running her second-hand bookshop in London. When she receives an invitation from an old friend — she attended a posh private school as a scholarship student — for a group get-together at an old castle, Nory knows it will dredge up old feelings of inadequacy and social awkwardness. What she isn’t counting on is an instant attraction between herself and the castle’s head gardener, Isaac.
