Books for the Holiday Season

What better way to spend part of your holidays than curled up with a good book, a hot drink, and a soft blanket?  Here are some wintry holiday reads to warm your hearts on cold days:

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow.  A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies.  Well, kinda.  After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger.  And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend.  Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks.  Thanks to three of today's bestselling teen authors John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares.  But is Dash that right guy?  Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York?  Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions?  Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions? 

My Review

Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie

Cass feels the long winter shadows on her heart.  Her mother died of cancer and her father has remarried a woman who has moved into their old Manitoba house with her nasty, babyish daughter and an attitude that's very hard to take.  Christmas promises to be a miserable time.
More than a century earlier, Christmas is proving to be difficult for Beatrice, too, for she has shadows of her own.  Some are cast by her circumstances.  She sees the growing prejudice against people like her who are of mixed Cree and Scottish backgrounds.  And like Cass, she has a stepmother.  Her father's new wife is threatened by Beatrice and is driving a wedge into the family.  Beatrice can only be sure of her beloved Cree grandmother, relegated to a room upstairs.  When a way of escape presents itself to Beatrice by way of an eligible bachelor, she is torn by the choice it offers her.  Should she settle for a man she doesn't love or address the problems at home?  Through her journal, she explores the answer and, at the same time, inspires Cass to find the strength she needs to face her own situation.

My Review

Do you have any winter holiday reading suggestions that you would like to share?