21 of the Best Christmas Books for Adults

Book Summary

As the 1967 Christmas season approaches, it’s been a tough year for the Evans family. Richard’s brother Mark was killed in Vietnam, his father lost his job, they moved from California to Utah, and his parents separated. 

At his new school in Utah, Richard is bullied until an elderly neighbor, Mr. Foster, chases off the bullies and offers Richard hot cocoa. This is the start of an unexpected and important friendship that brings back a little joy and light of the Christmas season.

Book Summary

Rather than a novel, this book contains touching short stories that will remind you of how many good people exist in the world. Despite the title and being written in 2020 as the upcoming Christmas season felt like it would be the worst of all time, these often humorous essays offer a bright spot for anyone who needs to be uplifted.

Book Summary

This short and humorous read is packed with all the 80s nostalgia you could ask for! It’s 1980-something, and all Jake wants for Christmas is a Nintendo Entertainment System. But somewhere in town, a tv falls on and kills a small dog, and all the parents in town blame the NES.

In a look back at the kid pop culture of the 1980s, this quest of Super Mario proportions is complete with flaming wreaths, speeding minivans, lost retainers, and Cabbage Patch Kids.

Book Summary

If you are looking for something funny and wholesome this holiday season, this adorably charming and heartwarming YA novel is the perfect choice! 

On the eve of her Christmas break, 17-year-old Sophie overhears her boyfriend saying he wants to take a break from her. Heartbroken, she heads out of town to spend the holidays with her large, extended Italian-American family while her parents go to visit her pregnant sister in another city.

When her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins learn of her breakup, they are determined to find her someone new. They each claim a date on the calendar and set her up on 10 blind dates in the days before 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 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.

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.

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.

Book Summary

Spanning four Christmas from 1914-1918, 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).

Book Summary

This is the 2nd book in the Borrow a Bookshop series, which transports readers to a fictional British bookshop that vacationing literature lovers can “own” for a fortnight. This book can be easily read as a stand-alone for Christmas before reading book one.

Magnús is from Iceland and is a former bookseller trying to fix his sadness by surrounding himself with books again. Alexandra is in Clove Lore, trying to heal heartbreak in the quirky community. 

When a flood on Christmas Eve devastates the village, Magnús and Alex have to work together to save it. This is the perfect time to introduce an Icelandic tradition—jólabókaflóð (Yule book flood). Will bringing the village together to exchange books and read together bring back the Christmas spirit?

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.

Book Summary

This festive, funny, and heartwarming Christmas novel is the perfect Hallmark-style armchair travel read that balances friendship and romance! Chloe, Jules, and Lucy met on vacation as kids. They’ve been best friends ever since, despite living on three different continents.

Twenty-two years later, they decide to swap homes for Christmas… Lucy travels to snowy Breckenridge, Colorado; Jules escapes down under for a summery Christmas in Melbourne, Australia; and Chloe travels halfway around the world for a quiet holiday in a quaint English village.

Book Summary

This heartwarming book is told from the perspective of a grandmother telling the story of two friends to her grandchildren. Best friends Peter and Hank have very different lives. Peter is the local pastor and is busy preparing for the Christmas service and live nativity. Hank is a bartender at his family tavern, serving lonely regulars and the local biker gang. 

When Peter declares that Hank’s job is easier than his, the men decide to switch places and step into each other’s shoes for a week. This swap leads to discoveries that celebrate community and the true meaning of the holidays. 

Debbie Macomber’s holiday books always remind us of Hallmark Christmas movies. If that sounds perfect for you, be sure to also read our list of books that turned into Hallmark Christmas movies.

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?

Book Summary

This spicy second-chance rom-com is described as good for those who aren’t typically fans of holiday romance because it’s so much more than that. The main character, Whitney, is NOT in the mood for Christmas; she’s had a terrible December at work and in love. But her mom insists she must join the family at her grandparent’s old cabin. 

On the first day, her ex, who broke her heart in college two decades ago, appears on the cabin’s doorstep. Her brother unknowingly invited him to their old-fashioned family Christmas. So suddenly, she’s stuck with him for the week, whether it’s the eggnog or Eli’s blue eyes, and their reunion moves from chilly to steamy.

Book Summary

Karen Kingsbury is always a good choice if you’re looking for a Christian book for Christmas. 

A Baxter Family Christmas has a very impressive Amazon rating, but a few dissenters felt it was better as a stand-alone than part of the Baxter series. The great news is that if you read it first and love it, there are 23 other books about the Baxters for you to enjoy later!

Book Summary

Did you know that Virgina from the unforgettable line “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.” went on to become a teacher and the principal at a school within New York General Hospital? In December of 1952, reporter David Lindsey was sent to follow up with the now-adult “Santa Claus Girl”.

After the interview, he learns of a little girl who needs polio treatment with an iron lung, but none are available. A fundraiser is in motion, but it’s a race against time, feasibility, and even a snowstorm.

Book Summary

This Christmas book brings together two generations of women and exemplifies the magic of the holiday season. 

Hopeful fashion designer Meg has to put her dreams on hold to return to her hometown of Chicago to manage her father’s apartment building. The residents are an eclectic group, and all seem to need her right away. 

One of the residents, Ellie, is having an equally bad season as she’s being forced to leave her apartment and move into a nursing home. As she packs, one dress brings back the most memories – both good and bad. 

When she reveals the important history of the dress to Meg, Ellie decides to gift her the dress with the caveat that it must be worn to the building’s holiday party. Will the magic of the dress strike again for its new owner?

Book Summary

At the Sullivan’s Harlem brownstone, Christmas doesn’t exist. The family has suffered a devasting loss, so this year, there are no Christmas trees, cookies, gifts, or invited guests.

But then, guests and gifts related to the Twelve Days of Christmas begin arriving. The happenings in the book follow the classic Twelve Days of Christmas song.

Book Summary

We are both big fans of the funny Shopaholic series, so Christmas Shopaholic shot straight to the top of our holiday reading lists last year, and it did not disappoint! This wintery novel stands alone from the series, so don’t worry if you haven’t read the others. 

We always laugh out loud at least once when reading Sophie Kinsella, so we’re putting this in the category of holiday self-care stress relief!

Book Summary

After the unexpected death of her husband, Joanne wasn’t sure how she would hold herself together. On top of that, the holidays were coming and she had three children to care for. The family was full of grief and not at all in the Christmas spirit. 

This true story tells how they were healed with the help of some real-life Christmas miracles and random acts of kindness.

Book Summary

Lucy works for a marketing agency that is facing layoffs after losing two major accounts. So, she decides to take matters into her own hands and track down the CEO of a sportswear company, Ross Miller, hoping to sign them as a client, which will save the jobs before Christmas. Lucy finds his family home in the Scottish Highlands, which she assumes is the site of an idyllic family holiday. 

However, not all is as it seems. Ross fears confrontations with his father, and his sister Clemmie has a major secret. On top of that, all three siblings dread the prying questions of their mother and grandmother. 

When Lucy arrives at the house before Ross, the family assumes she is his girlfriend. Soon, Nanna Jean is campaigning for great-grandchildren! Before anything can be set straight, Lucy finds herself snowed in and part of the Miller family Christmas.

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.