The ones I reach for every year without apology
I read a lot of dark romance. A lot. If you have been around here for more than five minutes you know my natural habitat is morally grey characters, dubious consent tags and the kind of book that makes you stare at the ceiling afterwards processing your feelings.
And then December rolls around, July comes and I am suddenly in Australia with the heating on and a craving for fictional festive love stories that are deeply wholesome by comparison. It happens every single year. I do not make the rules.
Christmas romance is a whole genre and it deserves its flowers. It has the built-in deadline tension of Christmas Eve, the forced proximity of Christmas holidays, the decorating montages and the hot cocoa moments and the small-town snow (conceptual snow, for us in Brisbane). It is a vibe and I am fully in it every winter.
These are my personal picks for the best Christmas romance books to read right now. Some are cosy and low-spice. Some have a little heat. All of them are the kind of book that make cold grey July feel like a soft blanket.
The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore (Dream Harbor #3)
If you have not found Dream Harbor yet, this is a very good place to start. The Christmas Tree Farm is the third book in Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series and it is one of the best Christmas romance books I have read. Like, properly good.
The story follows Kira, the kind of woman who runs on ambition and has no time for small-town charm, and Bennett, who is infuriatingly lovely and annoyingly steady in the way that only fictional men are. The banter is impeccable. The festive setting does a lot of heavy lifting and it works. I got up early to read this, which tells you everything.
It is cosy, it has warmth, there are genuine moments of emotional weight underneath the festive softness and the ending earns every bit of the feeling it gives you.
If you want to read my full review, it is on the blog.
Spice: low to moderate (2.5/5). Very much about the tension rather than the explicit moments. Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, small town, found family, slow burn. Vibe: the Christmas book you want when you want your heart to feel warm and a tiny bit rearranged.
The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore (Dream Harbor #5)
Yes, two Dream Harbor books on the same list. No, I do not apologise.
The Gingerbread Bakery is the fifth Dream Harbor book and it is set, naturally, in the lead-up to Christmas in Dream Harbor. It has everything I want from a festive romance: a bakery that smells like gingerbread and cinnamon, a love interest with layers, that specific Dream Harbor found-family energy and the sense that this fictional small town in winter is exactly where you want to be.
I have a full review on the blog this week if you want the deep dive. But for the purposes of this list: if you are already a Dream Harbor reader, do not skip this one. If you are new to the series, I would suggest starting at The Pumpkin Spice Cafe (book one) and working your way here. It is worth the journey.
Spice: low to moderate. Tropes: small town, Christmas setting, Dream Harbor found family, slow burn. Vibe: the gingerbread latte of romance novels.
One Day in December by Josie Silver
If you have not read One Day in December, I need you to stop what you are doing. This is the Christmas romance book. The benchmark. The one that established the genre has a soul.
Laurie spots a man through a bus window on a December evening. For one single perfect moment, they hold eye contact. Then the bus pulls away and he is gone. A year later, he turns up as her best friend’s new boyfriend.
What follows is a love story that spans years. It is slow. It hurts a little. It is warm in the way that only a story with real stakes feels warm. Josie Silver writes romance that respects its characters and this one is a proper achingly good slow burn with festive bookends that do everything right.
Spice: very low (1/5). This is about the feelings, not the heat. Tropes: love triangle-adjacent, slow burn, missed connections, best friend’s partner. Vibe: the Christmas love story you need if you want to feel things deeply and then feel better.
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
This one is fun in a way that hits differently. Mae is heading home for what might be the last Christmas at her family’s beloved holiday cabin when she makes a wish to feel happy again. What she gets is a Groundhog Day situation where she relives the same Christmas week on repeat until she figures out what she actually wants (and who).
Christina Lauren write banter that is genuinely funny and In a Holidaze has that in abundance. It is warm and chaotic and the kind of book you read in one or two sittings because the pace is just right. The Christmas cabin setting is exactly as cosy as it sounds and the love interest is the kind of fictional man who would absolutely ruin you in the best way.
Spice: low to moderate (2/5). Tropes: second chance-adjacent, friends to lovers, Groundhog Day loop, family Christmas cabin forced proximity. Vibe: the festive romcom you want when you need to actually laugh as well as feel things.
The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
Jenny Colgan is a reliable cosy romance author and The Christmas Bookshop is exactly what you want from a festive reading-while-cosy experience.
Carmen moves to Edinburgh in November to work in her sister’s partner’s old bookshop, which she is trying to help save, and finds herself surrounded by beautiful old buildings, determined readers and a man who is not quite as terrible as he first appears. Edinburgh at Christmas is an incredible setting and Jenny Colgan makes it feel like stepping into a snow globe. The bookshop is as much a character as the leads and if you are the kind of person who reads romance specifically because you love the settings, this one is for you.
Spice: low (1/5). Very cosy. Tropes: forced proximity, bookshop setting, opposites attract, Christmas under pressure. Vibe: a mug of mulled wine in book form. Warming and lovely and exactly what it promises.
The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox
Twin sisters accidentally swap lives over Christmas and fall for each other’s love interests (sort of). It sounds chaotic and it is, in the best way.
Charlie is a pastry chef who goes to her twin Cass’s small mountain town; Cass is a baking show host who lands in Charlie’s world. The kitchen scenes are genuinely delicious to read and there is a warmth to this story that sits alongside the inevitable complications. If you are a person who reads for setting and food descriptions as much as for the romance, The Holiday Swap delivers.
Spice: low to moderate. Tropes: mistaken identity, small town, baking, Christmas setting, second chance. Vibe: a gingerbread house of a novel. Very charming and slightly chaotic.
The reading list in brief
For the quick save:
- The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore (Dream Harbor #3) — small-town cosy romance, low spice, beautiful banter.
- The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore (Dream Harbor #5) — festive Dream Harbor, bakery setting, slow burn.
- One Day in December by Josie Silver — the benchmark Christmas love story, very low spice, very high feelings.
- In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren — Groundhog Day Christmas romcom, funny and warm.
- The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan — Edinburgh, a bookshop, slow burn, ultra cosy.
- The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox — twin swap, baking, small town Christmas, charming chaos.
What’s on my Christmas romance TBR?
These are the ones I keep seeing on BookTok and adding to the list for future festive seasons.
There are always more Christmas romances entering the world and I am not sorry about it. The genre has room for every kind of festive feeling: big emotional swings, light and funny, dark-edged and complicated, ultra-cosy and food-forward. Whatever you need from your winter reading, there is a Christmas romance out there for it.
Drop the ones I have missed in the comments. I will be here with my tea.
Cosy reads for cold nights. That’s what we’re here for.
If The Christmas Tree Farm or The Gingerbread Bakery are on your list, I have full reviews on the blog this week. Pop the kettle on.
