Christmas Books for Book Clubs in December 2025
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.If you’re looking for a Christmas book for your December book club meeting, you’re in the right place! We’ve curated the perfect list of Christmas-themed books for book clubs, and we’ve also included some excellent picks that include Christmas scenes but are less holiday-focused.
The discussion-worthy holiday books on our list include a variety of genres, including historical fiction, contemporary fiction, mysteries and thrillers, romances that delve a little deeper, and even some magical realism. If your book club always prefers a specific style of book, you may also want to browse our genre-based holiday book lists.
Best Christmas Books for Book Clubs
Once you’ve picked a book for your book club to read in December, be sure to also utilize our list of thought-provoking book club questions that can be used for any novel.
Book Summary
Erica, Claudia, and Anna are lifelong friends and headed to the Maple Sugar Inn in picturesque Vermont for their book club holiday. Each woman is around 40 years old, and the milestone birthday has affected them differently. Over the years, their shared love of books has carried them through life’s ups and downs.
Hattie is a 28-year-old widow who manages the Inn. Between work and her 5-year-old daughter, she has her hands full as the holidays approach. Even with distractions all around, she can see that each woman in the visiting book club trio is packing some major emotional baggage. Can these four women unite to improve each other’s lives and make this the start of a new chapter?
Why This Book Made the List
Your club members should love the book talk included throughout this novel and may dream of the well-stocked library shelves at the inn.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Nineteen-year-old Marion’s dreams come true when she’s cast as a member of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s precision dance troupe. It’s an honor for any dancer to be selected for the role and given the opportunity to perform at the Art Deco masterpiece of a theater that is Radio City. But Marion soon learns that, behind the scenes, the days are long and the rehearsals grueling.
One night, in 1956, a bomb exploded in the theater. It’s suspected to be the work of the infamous “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been planting bombs in crowded places around the city for the past sixteen years. The police still have no leads, leaving citizens living in fear. At Marion’s urging, the police agree to try psychological profiling, a radical new technique at the time.
While the Rockettes are trained to stay in line, Marion realizes that to help catch the bomber, she’ll have to stand out.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
While we wouldn’t classify this as a “Christmas book,” the Radio City Rockettes are famous for their “Christmas Spectacular” show, and a good deal of the book takes place around the Christmas season and the preparations for the holiday performance. This is a great book club pick if your group wants something set during the season without a heavy emphasis on the holidays specifically.
Before reading, we were unaware of the real Manhattan bombings that took place during this time period. Between that history, the inclusion of mental health care at the time, and the dawn of criminal profiling, this book was the perfect mix of entertaining and educational.
Christmas by the Book
Book Summary
Fifty-something husband and wife, Simon and Nora, have run a book shop in their small British village for more than 30 years. The store is struggling, and the couple realizes that they might be forced to close after the holidays.
When an elderly man visits the shop and purchases a book as a gift for his sick grandson, it gives Nora an idea to spread a little extra cheer while they can.
Nora and Simon gather nominations online for those who could use a little lift in their spirits, and they select six people to whom they anonymously deliver books. The recipients come from diverse backgrounds, but for each of them, the book they receive offers a little extra hope. And in turn, the community may be able to help Nora and Simon find their own happy ending.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
Many readers say that this book was a refreshing change of pace for a Christmas novel because it’s neither a romance nor a cozy mystery.
Will You Stay Another Day?
Book Summary
Lili’s dear friend, Em, passed away last Christmas. As the days get cooler and the holiday season approaches, she sends a knock-knock joke to Em’s old phone number. Lili doesn’t expect a response, so when she gets one from a stranger, she impulsively suggests meeting.
Dylan, the handsome stranger, is also missing someone this season. As he spends more time with Lili, they realize that life can’t focus solely on what you’ve lost; you also have to value the new things you have found.
Thoughts About This Book
This would be a great pick if you’re looking for something with more individual character development and fewer romance scenes. It would be ideal as a holiday book club pick because it begins in the late fall and follows the characters as Christmas approaches, giving you more to discuss than a traditional Christmas novel set over a shorter time period. One great side topic for discussion would be the inclusion of the Japanese tradition of showing respect to non-living things.
While this book is uplifting overall, it also explores how the lead characters learn to work through grief and move forward in life. If you’ve had a recent loss, it may hit close to home at times. One reviewer says it’s full of laughter, tears, love, warmth, and hope.
A Redbird Christmas
Book Summary
This novel opens in 1950s Chicago, where Oswald T. Campbell receives bad health news. His doctor suggests that Oswald spend the winter in a warmer climate. With little to lose, he lands in Lost River, a tiny Alabama town tucked along the Cahaba River.
In Lost River, Oswald settles into a quiet routine that includes coffee at the general store, gossip on the dock, and a spoiled redbird named Jack who rules the cracker barrel. Lost River quickly begins to feel like home; the town’s eccentric locals, including a kind shopkeeper named Frances, a river guide named Roy, and a shy, resilient girl, begin to pull him into their circle.
As the holiday season draws near, festive lights adorn each porch, cedar wreaths adorn each door, and the community is about to celebrate its most memorable Christmas.
What to Expect in This Novel
This novel is described as a heartwarming small-town story about finding belonging late in life. It’s filled with the perfect mix of humor and sentimentality.
A Home for the Holidays
Book Summary
Mel is a wedding singer who has always enjoyed the magic of the holidays. Her mother, Connie, always made the season special and pulled off amazing feats that kept Mel believing in Santa long after her peers. Unfortunately, this awesome parenting was not the norm throughout the year. Connie struggled with alcoholism, making childhood unpredictable for Mel.
Now, just two weeks before Christmas, Mel gets a call that her mother has passed away. Shortly after, a woman claiming to be Connie’s estranged best friend, Barb, shows up full of stories about Connie’s past. Barb gives Mel the opportunity to join her family for Christmas so she won’t be alone. The visit leaves Mel reckoning with how little she knew about her mother’s past while reexamining her own future. She’s also being drawn to Connie’s almost-divorced son.
Why This Book Made the List
The publisher describes this novel as a “moving exploration of complicated grief, mother-daughter relationships, loving someone with addiction, and the redemptive power of opening one’s heart to love in all its forms.”
All I Want for Christmas
Book Summary
Darcy recently broke up with a cheating boyfriend, and her friends are determined to set her up with a perfect blind date. But she’s too busy pursuing her PhD in Copenhagen and determined not to be distracted by a broken heart.
When an unknown portrait by Denmark’s greatest painter is discovered beneath another masterpiece, Darcy is tasked with uncovering the identity of the woman in the painting. Her research brings her into contact with some of the most powerful figures in the art world, including Max, the blind date.
She can’t deny the instant attraction, but she’s determined to keep things professional. Then a discovery threatens to put her and Max on opposite sides forever.
Another Karen Swan Book Club Option
The Christmas Lights is another great Christmas book club option by author Karen Swan, especially for readers who enjoy dual timelines. While this book includes romance, it’s also a suspenseful, page-turning mystery. Readers describe it as a “dark festive read” that, unlike the typical holiday book, won’t make you feel warm and cozy. Instead, you’ll feel the winter chill of this isolated location.
In this novel, Bo and her partner Zac live a life of wanderlust, traveling the globe while sharing their adventures with their millions of social media fans. They are spending Christmas 2018 in the Norwegian fjords on a farm owned by an enigmatic mountain guide and his fierce grandmother, Signy. It’s easy for them to convince their followers that everything is perfect, but that’s not so behind the scenes. Bo can’t quite put her finger on what is wrong, but Anders is the only person who will listen.
Signy was just 14 when, in the summer of 1936, she and her sister and village friends were sent to work as milkmaids in the pastures. Protecting the goat herd is the key to sustaining the farm through the long, cold winter months. But away from the safety of their homes and families, they discover threats lurking behind friendly faces.
One Christmas Eve
Book Summary
Across three decades, three women experience Christmas Eves that change their lives forever.
In 1968, Cathy receives a surprise Christmas Eve visit from a lost love. Faced with a decision between the one that got away and the one that stayed, who will she choose?
In 1993, Cathy’s daughter, Helena, is eagerly anticipating a Christmas Eve proposal. But before the ring is on her finger, a devastating encounter threatens to bring her heartbreak.
In 2023, a shocking discovery rocks Eve Quinn’s world on the day before Christmas. The only gift she wants is truth, but it will take a Christmas miracle to unravel three generations of secrets.
More About This Book
This novel is part of Shari Low’s series of standalone books that each take place on a single day, but it’s unique from others in the collection in that it covers December 24th of three different years. Low threads these three different stories together seamlessly for an unexpected ending to the story.
Although this book does have a touch of romance, it’s not the main focus of the novel.
Last Christmas in Paris
Book Summary
Spanning four Christmases, from 1914 to 1918, you’ll meet Evie, her brother Will, and his best friend Thomas. The boys are soon facing the front lines of World War 1, while Evie tries to help the effort from home. The compelling novel is told in epistolary form (through letters).
Consider This Before Reading
Melissa read this one after seeing it recommended over and over. She LOVED it as a book and was so enthralled that she read right through the time she was supposed to put up her Christmas tree.
BUT, keep in mind that it’s set in Europe during WWI, which was not a jolly time. While there are many Christmas mentions, there’s no mistaking that the book is set in wartime, which also comes with a lot of misery.
Once Upon a Wardrobe
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
4.3 out of 5
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Promising physics student Megs is attending Oxford in 1950 and prefers facts to creativity. However, her beloved but critically ill, 8-year-old brother is obsessed with a world created in a book – The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. When he asks her to find out where Narnia came from, she can’t refuse his plea.
When she tracks down the Lewis brothers, who are also at Oxford, they graciously invite her for tea. While they fill her with stories she can pass along to her brother, she doesn’t understand why he won’t answer her most important question about the origin of Narnia.
Thoughts On This Book
While there are sad moments, this book is also described as filled with hope and warmth. Just what we all need on a cold winter night!
The Christmas Orphans Club
Book Summary
Hannah lost her parents at a young age, and Finn’s family disowned him when he came out. With nowhere else to go, these two Christmas orphans have spent the holiday together every year since their years at Boston College. After school, both moved to NYC, where they added stylish Priya and mysterious Theo to their found family.
Thanks to offbeat adventures that get a bit more outrageous each year, their Christmases are anything but traditional. But when Finn announces plans to move to LA, the group realizes this holiday might be their last together.
Why This Book Made the List
This novel is filled with humor, heart, and witty dialogue. While it’s shelved by some as a romance, it’s much more about friendships and growing up in the first decade of adulthood. The author paints a beautiful portrait of all different types of love, including that between friends and family, romantic love, and even the love of holiday traditions.
The Story She Left Behind
Book Summary
Growing up in the 1920s, Clara Harrington had a magical childhood as the daughter of renowned author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham. Bronwyn became a national sensation when, at the age of just twelve, she wrote a book in an invented language.
But when Clara is just 8 years old, her mother goes missing off the coast of South Carolina. Not only does this leave her daughter and husband brokenhearted, but it also dashes the hopes of ever translating the sequel to her book.
Years later, in 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising a daughter of her own. Out of the blue, she is contacted by a stranger in London named Charlie Jameson, who claims to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical but can’t help but be intrigued.
Together with her daughter, Wynnie, Clara crosses the Atlantic. When they arrive, London is experiencing a deadly natural disaster—the Great Smog. It’s too much for young Wynnie’s asthma, so Charlie invites them to seek refuge at his family’s retreat in the Lake District. There, Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.
Why This Book Made the List
This is a great pick for a book club looking for a book set during in December with some mentions of Christmas, but without a heavy emphasis on the holiday. The novel takes place December and there are mentions of Christmas preparations throughout, leading up to a celebration of the holiday near the end of the novel.
A December to Remember
Book Summary
Augustus owns the North’s Novelties and Curios shop, which has been passed down in his family since 1740. When he dies at the age of 96, he leaves an unusual will behind for his adult daughters, who each have a different mother. The estranged half-sisters Maggie, Simone, and Star are given a series of challenges in the will, which require them to work together.
Once they’ve finished the smaller challenges, they must bring back the village’s Winter Solstice celebration, a tradition that has lapsed in recent years. Along the way, these 30 & 40-something sisters run into some unexpected romance.
Why This Book Made the List
The setting in this book is idyllic, and readers say you’ll definitely get heart-warming Hallmark vibes as the sisters learn to be friends. However, the book does balance light and humorous moments with real-life situations that will give your book club plenty to talk about.
We also recommend A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss, which includes great found family vibes and spans from the fall through Christmas.
The Twelve Topsy-Turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas
Book Summary
At the Sullivan’s Harlem brownstone, Christmas doesn’t exist. The family has suffered a devastating loss, so this year, there are no Christmas trees, cookies, gifts, or invited guests.
But then, guests & gifts related to the twelve days of Christmas begin arriving. The happenings in the book follow the classic 12 Days of Christmas song.
What to Expect in This Book
If you’re looking for a wacky take on a classic Christmas tale filled with British humor, this one is for you! Readers say it manages to balance being silly and poignant, along with being both magical and realistic.
Note that the US version of this novel is set in Harlem, New York, while the UK publication of the book is set in a neighborhood in London.
Three Holidays and a Wedding
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Maryam is on her way to her sister’s impromptu wedding, and Anna is headed to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy family. These two strangers are seatmates on a flight to Toronto when they find themselves in extreme turbulence. The scary flight causes the two women to confess their deepest hopes and fears to each other.
They think they’ll never see each other again, but the rough ride leads to an emergency landing in Ottawa. Instead of making it to Toronto, the duo (along with Maryam’s sister’s entire bridal party and Saif, the love of Maryam’s life) find themselves at the quirky Snow Falls Inn in a picture-perfect town. Could being snowbound in a small town unexpectedly turn into the best holiday ever?
Thoughts On This Book
If you’re looking for a Christmas book club read that also includes Ramadan and Hanukkah to enhance the discussion, this would be a great pick!
The Wish
Book Summary
When Maggie was 16 in 1996, she was sent to live with her aunt in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. She was homesick until she met Bryce, one of the few other teens on the island. He taught her about all the wonders of the island while introducing her to photography.
In 2019, Maggie splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. However, as Christmas approaches, she is struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. As she grows more dependent on her assistant, she also begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier—and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.
What to Expect in This Book
While Nicholas Sparks is known for romance, he also includes many deeper themes in this Christmasy novel, including terminal illness, teen pregnancy, and adoption.
Love, Holly
Book Summary
Holly has been estranged from her family ever since a tragic New Year’s Eve car accident three years ago. During those years, she’s been part of a lonely-hearts holiday letter–writing club. Each December, Holly writes to a stranger who is also spending Christmas alone, and she receives a letter from another lonely person in return.
The letters are meant to be anonymous, allowing the sender to write anything on their heart. But this year, the letter Holly receives has clues that lead her to believe she can track down the author and maybe even reunite her with the grandson, Jack, whom she misses so dearly.
When Holly finds Jack, she realizes that she’s actually met him once before. There’s an immediate spark between the two of them, just like there was the first time. She’s determined to fix his family, and maybe even her own, but time is running out.
Thoughts On This Book
This novel takes place in several locations throughout Europe, including Holly’s hometown in England, London, Ireland, and Venice, Italy. Many readers say that Venice is the most vividly described of the settings, including the canals, shops, and cafes.
The UK edition of this novel is titled The Christmas Letter.
The Santa Suit
Book Summary
This heartwarming novel brings the magic of Christmas and is also a testament to the power of second chances!
Ivy Perkins is recently divorced and is looking to make a big change in her life. So, she buys an old farmhouse sight unseen. Ivy knows it will be a labor of love… but it might be more labor than she counted on.
As she sorts through all the junk the prior owners left behind, she comes across a beautiful, decades-old Santa suit. Tucked in the pocket is a handwritten note from a little girl whose Christmas wish was for her father to return home from the war. Ivy’s desire to learn more about the note’s author draws her into her new community and may even result in a second chance at love.
What to Expect in This Book
This book will really put you in the holiday spirit because it celebrates the spirit of joy and giving rather than the material aspects of the season.
Mary Kay Andrews also has a new Christmas book out this year called Bright Lights, Big Christmas, which is a mix of romance and mystery. If your book club has already read and enjoyed The Santa Suit, then you might also want to consider Bright Lights, Big Christmas.
Through the Snow Globe
Book Summary
What if you could have one more day with someone you lost? That’s the underlying premise of this novel that blends It’s a Wonderful Life and Groundhog Day into a compelling holiday read.
Diana is no longer looking forward to Christmas. Her fiancé, Linus, was critically injured in a bike accident, and she’s losing hope that he’ll ever open his eyes again. The night before Christmas Eve, she finds a hidden snow globe of their small town and realizes that Linus bought it for her before the accident. The next day should have been Christmas Eve, but instead, Diana wakes up on December 4th, the day of the accident.
She soon realizes that she’s in a loop of that day, each time experiencing a different variation of events. Along the way, she uncovers startling truths about herself, her relationship, and even her career.
Another Time Loop Option
Fans of holiday time loop novels may also want to consider One Christmas Morning by Rachel Greenlaw. In this book, Eva has buried herself in her work as a way to hide from the real world – the world in which her family was ripped apart on Christmas. She is reluctant when her husband insists that they drive to Cornwall for a holiday party, and she tries to sneak home to London in the middle of the night. But when the clock strikes midnight, she’s visited by the ghost of her grandmother, who warns her to stop pushing her loved ones away.
She wakes up on Christmas morning to find that she’s no longer in her own life but rather that of her assistant, Diana. The next day, she wakes to another Christmas morning, but this time in the body of her sister, Natalie. Again and again, she relives Christmas through the eyes of another person she’s been pushing away.
The Beautiful Little Things
Book Summary
This unexpected Christmas novel explores a family’s first holiday season after a big loss. Sisters Romy and Joanna are returning home to the Dublin Mountain foothills from their very different lives in London and Silicon Valley. Romy feels adrift on the lower rungs of her career ladder, while Joanna has a high-powered career, but isn’t sure if that life is the right way to raise her twin daughters.
Back home, the house feels empty without their mom. Dad feels like a passing shadow, and their brother is brooding and silent. But then Romy discovers some words of wisdom left behind by their mom, Cathy. Can her loving reminder save the Christmas season?
Homecoming
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
On Christmas Eve sixty years ago, a deliveryman made a gruesome discovery that forever changed the small town of Tambilla. In the present day, Jess is a journalist in London when she gets a call to return home to Australia to help with her grandmother, Nora. Nora was more like a mother to Jess after Jess’s mother, Polly, left her with Nora and moved to Brisbane when Jess was only 10.
Nora fell in her attic while searching for something, and now she is mumbling about an event from her past, making it difficult to understand. As Jess tries to piece things together, she learns that Nora was agitated and restless even before the fall. She knows something is going on and is determined to figure it out. As she searches the house for clues, she finds a true crime book about the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve. But what does this cold case have to do with her family?
Thoughts On This Book
This mystery is on the longer side at 547 pages. Some readers feel like the first 400 pages could have been shorter, but most agree that you won’t be able to put this book down in the last 100 pages.
If your book club is looking for a book that includes Christmas mentions without being a holiday novel, this could be a good fit!
The Wishing Bridge
Book Summary
Henrietta (Henri) is a successful mergers and acquisitions executive, but the next generation of employees at the company are eager to replace her. Henri’s boss informs her that she’ll be out of work if she doesn’t close a big deal before the end of the year. Desperate to keep her job, Henri assures her boss that she can convince her parents to sell their iconic small-town Christmas store to a huge corporate client.
Henri typically only leaves her job in Detroit long enough for a quick, 24-hour holiday visit with her mom and dad. Imagine their surprise when she shows up at the family business in early December. Her parents are thrilled to see her, but her brother is immediately suspicious.
While she’s used to closing cold corporate deals, she finds herself reconnecting with the warmth of the family store and her hometown. Will she be able to close the deal and save her career even if it hurts her family?
Thoughts On This Book
This novel also includes a bonus novella titled Christmas Angels.
Viola Shipman (the pen name for author Wade Rouse) also has other wonderful holiday novels that make light and enjoyable book club picks, including one of our favorites, The Secret of Snow.
A Magical New York Christmas
Book Summary
Sabrina Post is a 26-year-old struggling writer who arrives at the Plaza Hotel to begin her next gig – ghost-writing a memoir for a famous art dealer. It’s a dream job – she gets her own suite and a big paycheck! Her week gets even more magical when she finds out the art dealer once worked for the author of the Eloise books, Kay Thompson.
Throw in a member of the British aristocracy that Sabrina meets at the hotel bar, and you have the perfect heartwarming holiday read!
Why We Think You’ll Love It
Fans of Fiona Davis novels will love this book! Like many of Davis’ books with an NYC landmark building at their center, the Plaza Hotel is like a character in the story. You’ll learn so much about the history and architecture of this grand hotel. We also love books that feature characters interacting with real authors, and this holiday novel has a dual timeline with a historical fiction story that introduces us to the author of the famed Eloise books.
This book actually takes place during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It features many of the quintessential NYC Christmas activities and culminates with a glamorous New Year’s Eve gala.
A Quilt for Christmas
Book Summary
In this 176-page novella, widowed Vera is lonely in her new condo as the holidays approach. A knock at the door introduces her to a young girl, Fiona. Fiona’s mom is seriously ill, and her dad is out of town.
Suddenly, Vera doesn’t have time to be lonely as she assembles an unexpected group of women to help make a Christmas quilt for Fiona’s mom. Artist Tasha, empty-nester Beverly, and retired therapist Eleanor join in and form a new family of friends to help Fiona. But, they manage to help each other along the way.
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Book Summary
On Christmas Eve, four estranged brothers have been called home by their widowed father. But the reunion goes awry when there is a crash and a scream after dinner. The family rushes upstairs to find their father dead with a slash in his throat.
Everyone seems to have an alibi, along with their own reasons for disliking the man. Hercule Poirot arrives to investigate, but the family is resistant to his help.
More About This Book
This classic murder mystery is the 20th book in Agatha Christie’s beloved investigator series, but you can read it as a stand-alone holiday novel.
The Afterlife of Holly Chase
Book Summary
Like Charles Dicken’s Scrooge, seventeen-year-old Holly received a Christmas Eve visit from three ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. Unlike Scrooge, she was unconvinced, and she did not change her ways. Then, she died.
She’s now stuck working for the top-secret company called Project Scrooge, where she serves as the new Ghost of Christmas Past. Each year she helps the company as they attempt to save another miserly grouch. Despite helping many people, she remains miserable – watching as her family and friends go on living while she stays frozen at seventeen, unable to interact with them. But the Scrooge she’s been assigned to help reform this year may change everything.
Why You Should Consider This Book
Although it’s a YA novel, this modern retelling of A Christmas Carol offers ample depth for a great holiday-themed book club discussion.
Time of the Child
Book Summary
In 1962, as the people of Faha prepare for Christmas, the lives of the town doctor and his eldest daughter are turned upside down when a baby is unexpectedly left in their care.
More About This Book
This novel, set throughout the month of December, takes place in the same Irish small town as the author’s 2019 book, This is Happiness. Our readers tell us that it reads well as a standalone.
The Christmas Table
Book Summary
In 1972, Joan’s husband is determined to build her a beautiful dining room table before Thanksgiving dinner. While he works on the table, Joan works on her mother’s recipes, inspired to make a delicious meal. Their lives are interrupted when Joan is diagnosed with breast cancer.
In 2012, a pregnant Lauren finds an old table that has recently been refinished. When she gets home, she discovers handwritten recipe cards, complete with loving notes from a mother to her daughter. After being raised in foster care without that kind of relationship in her life, Lauren is moved by the card and wants to learn how to cook for her baby using the recipes. She’s drawn to the family on the cards and hopes to unlock the mystery of who they belong to before Christmas.
About the Author
Donna VanLiere wrote the popular holiday tear-jerker, The Christmas Shoes. The Christmas Table is her most recent Christmas release, and it sounds like it may have the same effect.
Consider reading this book and then watching The Christmas Shoes movie with Rob Lowe during your meeting! While watching, you can snack on treats made using the recipes throughout the book.
Book Summary
Looking for a very non-traditional Christmas read? Try this Christmas mystery thriller! Edward Holbeck was born into a highly eccentric, old-money family in the 1%. He left them behind to escape their control and forge his own path. His wife, Harry, is a novelist on the brink of stardom, and their life is good.
However, the family’s eyes and ears are everywhere. They’re not okay with Edward’s separation from the family because he’s still set to be the sole heir to the fortunes.
When the head of the family, Robert, slips a shocking taped confession to Harry, their world begins to spin. As she searches for the truth, she finds herself involved in the Holbecks’ savage Christmas tradition, even though she knows losing the game can be deadly.
Covers Thanksgiving & Christmas
This book begins on the Christmas-decorated streets of Manhattan, but also jumps back a month to the family’s elaborate Thanksgiving celebration, making it a great pick for a book club in November or December.
Join Our Christmas Reading Mini Challenge
Can’t get enough seasonal reading? Neither can we! We have a self-paced Christmas reading challenge just for you. To make it easy and fun, we include highly-rated book recommendations for each of the Christmas reading prompts.
Printable Version of this List
Our Inner Circle Members have access to a single page printable version of this book list, along with other fun perks. Join now for instant access to the printable!
More Christmas Book Recommendations
While the Christmas novels above are ideal for book clubs, we also have many additional Christmas reading recommendations. Sometimes, we just want to curl up with a cheesy holiday romance this time of year!
- Festive Holiday Books Set in New York: Christmas & Hanukkah Novels
- Charming Christmas Novels Set Across Europe (By Country)
- Christmas Novels Set in England (London & Beyond)
- 11 Snowy Christmas Books Set in Colorado
- 16 Christmas Books Set in Scotland
- 12 Great Christmas Books Set in North Carolina
- 11 Cozy Christmas Books Set in Canada
- Christmas Books Set in the UK
As I viewed the list, I have read 3 of them – 1 I just finished & found delightful bright lights, big Christmas was passed along to me by a friend who called it a ‘fluff’ read. I found it more than ‘fluff’ — a good Christmas message — along with some humor at times. Previously I had read Shipman’s The Wishing Bridge as well as Last Christmas in Paris by Gaynor. Each was worthy of the time spent as I reflected upon their messages.
I like the idea of these mini challenges for winter. Thanks.