Top Ten Tuesday 8 December 2020

Welcome to this weeks Top Ten Tuesday. Originally created by The Broke & The Bookish, which is now hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week it features a book or literary themed category. This weeks prompt is:

Holiday/Seasonal Freebie:

(holiday books/covers/titles, wintry reads, snow on cover, cool color covers, etc.

Christmas Books I’ve Enjoyed: (Not in any particular Order)

Welcome to Christmas Grove, where holiday magic and matchmaking is in the air.

When Rex Holiday walks into the charming town of Christmas Grove, all he plans to do is to spend the season helping out at his buddy’s Christmas tree farm. What he doesn’t expect is for an overzealous matchmaker to slip a love potion into his cider. But the joke’s on the resident matchmaker, because not even a potent love spell can break through the walls he’s built around his heart. But when the girl next door catches his eye, some of his barriers start to crumble. Still, Rex Holiday’s time in Christmas Grove is only temporary. He can’t afford to fall in love. Or can he?

Holly Reineer is a powerful spirit witch who can see the future for everyone. Everyone but herself that is. And when Rex Holiday walks into her life, she sees his, too. He’s destined for a big corporate job all the way across the country. So when he starts to show interest in her, she knows it’s only temporary, and Holly’s not interested in a fling. She wants her happily-ever-after. But he’s very hard to resist… Can a love spell rewrite the future? If so, Holly will need to learn to follow her heart and, for once, trust what she can’t see.

Welcome to Christmas Grove, the town full of love, magic, and holiday miracles.

Ilsa McKenzie has only ever loved one man. But eleven months ago, he walked out of her life, leaving her heartbroken and her life changed forever. After leaving the magical town of Christmas Grove to regroup and get her life in order, Ilsa’s back, ready to face her past and start her future with or without him. There’s only one question. Will Zach want to be a part of her life or will he run again?

Zach Frost doesn’t love easily. He’s loved and lost before. All he’s ever wanted was to run his Christmas tree farm and start a family. And once Ilsa arrives in town, it seems he’s on the verge of making his dreams come true. But his past is complicated and it’s about to catch up with him. Can he make peace with his mistakes or will he let history repeat itself and lose his chance with the one woman who can make him feel whole?

or once, Kate Peters would like a happy, family Christmas; the kind of Christmas seen in the movies. She wants harmony and happiness, smiling, glowing faces, tables groaning with food, carol singing around the tree. She wants love, kindness, and goodwill to all men, especially in her own house.

What she doesn’t want is drama. Absolutely no drama, whatsoever.

But what she gets is three stroppy children, two equally stroppy grandmothers, a husband who can’t manage to change a lightbulb, and Pepe the poodle.

It’s no wonder she feels unappreciated, overworked, and ignored. At the end of her tinsel-coated tether, and with the only Christmas spirit being in the form of a bottle of raspberry gin, Kate decides to leave them to it, and see how they manage without her.

A quiet little hotel somewhere near the sea, where she can pretend Christmas doesn’t exist, is just the thing she needs. Isn’t it?

United in grief. Pushed apart by tragedy.

Keeley Andrews knows more than anyone that you only live once. So when she receives an invitation to spend two weeks in Paris, all expenses paid, she jumps at the chance.

Ethan Bouchard has had the worst eighteen months of his life. He’s ready to give up on everything, including his hotel chain. So when he meets Keeley, it simply isn’t the right time.

As Keeley and Ethan continue to bump into each other on the romantic Parisian streets, they can’t help but wonder whether this is fate telling them to let go of the past and leap into the future…

This Year, Kenzie’s going to make Christmas great again. 😉

Kenzie is finally at the Shifter Academy, living her dreams, dating her super hot (and super granola) cat shifter boyfriend. After all the drama of last year, making this Christmas the best ever should be a piece of pie (make that a large slice with extra whipped cream). Right?

Wrong.

When Kenzie’s Christmas plans meet with heavy reluctance, Kenzie’s left holding the decorations all by herself. Oh, except for the impossibly adorable mer guy, who seemed to be on team make-Kenzie’s-life-miserable, now wants to help. What’s with that?

Add to the mix a dash of magic gone awry, and now Kenzie’s chasing a magical imp that’s tearing down all her attempts to jollify the joint.

She’ll need to track down the imp, undo the errant magic, and get everyone in the Christmas spirit before time runs out. Fail, and she could be expelled—or worse, the school might just come crumbling down. Again.

This story is a part of the Shifter Academy world, and occurs about one year following the USA Today bestselling Siren Prophecy series, but can be read as a stand-alone novel. Perfect for fans of heartwarming Christmas shenanigans, like The Grinch, and sweet holiday romantic comedies. 

Christmas at the Lakeside Resort Love and Adventures after 40

Forty-two year old Jenny Beckett is dreading the holidays. Her fiancé has just called off their Christmas wedding, and she’s been evicted from her darling chicken coop cottage. When her estranged father dies and leaves her eight rustic guest cabins on Heron Lake, Jenny seizes the chance to make a new life. She packs up her dogs, her miniature horse and her beat up Airstream trailer and moves to the lake.

Short on time and money, Jenny and her contractor, widower Luke, work feverishly to renovate the cabins in time for the festive holiday event she’s promised her very first guests. When an unexpected blizzard snows them in and jeopardizes the resort’s opening, Jenny and Luke work to save the event and, along the way, find true love… and the magic of Christmas.

Cosy up with the new novel in the Pudding Pantry series, full of love, laughter, kisses under the mistletoe, and plenty of delicious pudding!

The first snow is falling over Primrose Farm, the mince pies are warming, and Rachel can’t wait to share a kiss under the mistletoe with her gorgeous new flame, Tom.

If only it was all comfort and joy . . . The arrival of Tom’s ex brings an unwelcome chill to the farm. And despite Master Baker Mum Jill’s valiant efforts, the new pudding pantry business is feeling the pinch.

With a spoonful of festive spirit, a cupful of goodwill with friends, and her messy, wonderful family by her side, can Rachel make this a Christmas to remember?

Brandon Brown is the unlikeliest Santa ever to don a red velvet suit.

His abs are more cheese grater than bowl full of jelly, and deploying to Syria is the closest he’s come to the North Pole. But family drama sends the jaded Marine home for the holidays, and lands him an unexpected gig as a part-time Santa.

Jade King is hustling to get Jingle Bell Reindeer Ranch off the ground, and she’s not thrilled her sister hired a Santa with sex-appeal. The last thing Jade wants is a beefcake circus, and guys like Brandon bring sleigh-loads of trouble. But Studmuffin Santa proves more popular than anyone dreamed, drawing hordes of happy kids, lusty moms, and a mystery foe hell-bent on wrecking it all.

The threat has Brandon playing protector for the reindeer and their sexy keeper, which is risky for a guy who’s sworn off happy endings and the whole Christmas mess. But as Jade and Brandon bond over Santa suit malfunctions and risqué Christmas cookies, they find they have more in common than a craving for gingerbread. Can they find a way to mesh their wish lists, or will ghosts of Christmas past bring things crashing down like a fat man in a cast iron sleigh?

Warm, funny, and oh-so-relatable, The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss is an uplifting festive romantic comedy, for all those who loved One Day in December.

On the first day of Christmas, a dating app offered me Twelve tailored chances for perfect harmony . . .

Kate Turner is happily single – a bit too happily, in fact. Since returning to her hometown of Blexford, a sleepy village where everybody knows each other, and between catching up with her oldest friends Laura and Matt, a flourishing career as a fabric designer, and taking care of her beloved dad, love hasn’t really had a look in.

But Kate does love Christmas. So when Laura insists she signs up to the Twelve Dates of Christmas, a brand new dating app service, she doesn’t need too much persuading. Twelve perfect festive dates with the area’s most eligible men – who could say no?

Amongst the twinkling lights and over hot chocolates and glasses of red wine, romance is easy to find. But with each date, Kate learns more about the men, and even more about herself.

As the big day approaches, Kate’s left wondering – is it really the season for true love, or will this Christmas be the coldest yet?

A delightful holiday romance about a small-town single dad and an animal rescue owner as they try to find forever homes for a dozen lovable pups before Christmas.

Pine Hollow has everything Ally Gilmore could wish for in a holiday break: gently falling snow in a charming small town and time with her family. Then she learns some Grinch has pulled the funding for her family’s rescue shelter, and now she has only four weeks to find new homes for a dozen dogs! But when she confronts her Scroogey councilman nemesis, Ally finds he’s far more reasonable — and handsome — than she ever expected.

As the guardian of his dog-obsessed ten-year-old niece, Ben West doesn’t have time to build a cuddly reputation. But he does feel guilty about the shelter closing. So he proposes a truce with Ally, agreeing to help her adopt out the pups. As the two spend more time together, the town’s gossip is spreading faster than Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve. And soon Ben is hoping he can convince Ally that Pine Hollow is her home for the holidays… and the whole year through. 

Till next week!