June Book Wrap Up
I don’t know about y’all, but reading Christmas movies brings me a certain amount of peace and joy. It’s the same reason I love watching the same movies/shows on repeat, and why I will always, without a doubt, binge watch a million and a half Hallmark Christmas movies every chance I get.
The world has gone mad, and we’ve had some high stress personal things going on here at home, so my June was chock full of Christmas goodness. Well that, and I wanted to read some of the books that authors signed up for me to share in my Christmas newsletter!
In no particular order, here’s where to find them!
Both The Clause in Christmas and The Meaning in Mistletoe are from Rachael Bloome’s Poppy Creek series. If you haven’t had a chance to jump into her series, I highly recommend doing so. From the first chapter in The Clause in Christmas, you feel at home in Poppy Creek, and by the end of it, you’re ready to jump into the next book with characters you’ve come to know and love by the end of it. If you love Hallmark movies, you will absolutely love her books.
Christmas Crasher by Ash Keller is a quick read, with a heroine trying to figure out what she wants out of life, and a swoony hero that is trying to piece his life back together after losing his parents. After a few days together on his Christmas tree farm, they’re head over heels for each other! I snagged another one of her reads (it’s free to her newsletter subscribers) — Christmas Blind Date. Lucy, the heroine, believes she’s cursed, but agreed to a blind date on Christmas Eve. Hilarity ensues, Super cute read!
Cindy Steel is an author I just happened to come across on my search for sweet Christmas romance. Y’all, this book. A Christmas Spark has the perfect amount of chemistry, a sort of enemies to lovers/snowed in situaion, and is pretty unbearable. Our heroine had some pretty unkind things said to her in her youth–I doubt I’m the only one that can relate to this–and the guy she’s stuck with, is the one who said them. It could be a totally cringe-worthy situation, but it’s a fabulous, fabulous read!
The True Romance Renovation is actually the first book I’ve read by Ellie Hall. I have other books from this series, because I’m a nut for home renovation anything (ie, Chip and JoJo, HGTV, and yes, I even follow home inspectors on TikTok for grins), but I picked this one up first because well, I also love Christmas. HA! This series follows friends that have a home reno show, and this is Camellia’s story. She nabs this dilapidated inn, a complete eyesore to the community, and her friends (found family) all come to the rescue, including the “one that got away”. And OhMyNash, is he swoony! Highly, highly recommend!!
Kiss the Girl is a book I actually picked up last December–shhhh, don’t throw things, I also released my first book in December, while on vacation, so it was a little crazy around here. I loved this book, but I have to be very forthcoming about a trigger warning (because I wish I’d seen it myself): the heroine’s dad has cancer. Now, don’t let that deter you: it is a sweet, Hallmark level, romantic comedy. It’s not an angsty contemp romance, so while the c-word is ever-present and kind of lurking in the shadows, all turns out well. But that didn’t stop me from having a couple of icky relatable moments. If you know, you know. That being said: you’ve got a heroine that came home to take over her dad’s hardware story and starts having the feels for the high school football coach, all while there’s an expiration date (her going back to the city to “real” life) hanging over their heads. Plus, a super fun ChristmasTown experience–I wish our little downtown did this, I’d be all over it! Totally worth reading!
Last but certainly not least, we’ve got Christmas at Holly Berry Inn and The Christmas Bachelor Auction. Rachel John’s book is part of a matchmaking series, and super cute. You’ve got Cara, totally fighting the hots for her best friends brother, and she gets ends up buying him at the bachelor auction. They get stuck together on a series of dates, and they have to work through some old feelings, and some forgiveness–he said some not nice things to her, but he didn’t exactly have all the info either. I know we’ve all found ourselves in a similar hot water situation at one point in our lives. The speaking too soon thing, not necessarily the being stuck with your crush after a bachelor auction situation. HA!
Christmas at the Holly Berry Inn is just, full of all the warm fuzzies. It has everything that makes a Hallmark movies great: a second chance romance, an Inn, lots of Christmas, snow, a cute kid (our hero is trying to adopt his niece), and baked goods. You just cannot possibly go wrong with this book. And even better, once you get to the end and are sad that their story is done, you can sign up for Emily’s newsletter and get a fantastic bonus scene. YAY!
All through the merry month of July (roll with me, please), I’m having a Christmas bookish BINGO event in my author newsletter. I’m featuring books, authors, and recipes all month long, and for every BINGO, you earn entries to win! If this sounds like something that would interest you, we’d love to have you! Join the fun here.
So tell me friends, have you read any of this, or will you be adding any to your holiday reading list? I’d love to hear if you have some to recommend!
Until next time!
Disclaimer: these posts contain affiliate links. In the event that you buy anything through the links, I do earn a small percentage, but at no extra cost to you. Happy reading!
