It’s that time of year! Time for Hallmark Channel, Lifetime and Netflix Christmas holiday movies. And time for the best new Christmas novels, mysteries and romances to read for the 2020 holiday season, for everyone who loves fiction and books with a Christmas theme. We’ve rounded up the best new releases, almost all of which will be available before the end of October this year. And you can also check out the 2019 releases, most of which are now in paperback. Happy holiday reading!
the best new Christmas fiction this holiday season
If you’re been waiting all year for the new Christmas novels, your time is now! This fall sees a sleigh full of new novels, all with a Christmas theme.
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Whether you’re heading to New York City to see the lights and shows, or to London for some shopping; or maybe to Nantucket for the Christmas Stroll, or off to Europe for the Christmas Markets, or just curling up at home, these will be great companions.
The best new Christmas fiction books, including mysteries, romances and novels, of 2020.
Here’s our roundup of the best new Christmas fiction for 2020. These 21 new books are sure to bring the spirit of the season home. They’d also be great gifts for friends and family who love the holidays as much as we do.
The best new Christmas fiction books, including mysteries, romances and novels, of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
The Best New Christmas Novels this 2020 Holiday Season
1. A Heartfelt Christmas Promise by Nancy Naigle
In A Heartfelt Christmas Promise, Vanessa Larkin was supposed to be spending Christmas in Paris on a business trip. Instead, she’s in Fraser Hills, North Carolina―home of the Best Fruitcake in the USA―to convert her company’s property into warehouse space and shut down Porter’s, the fruitcake factory.
Then she meets Mike Marshall, whose family founded Porter’s. Before long, Vanessa is falling in love . . . with Fraser Hills and with Mike. But it may take a Christmas miracle to give her newfound friends and home a gift they’ll cherish for many New Years to come.
2. Christmas at Holiday House by RaeAnne Thayne
Widowed nurse Abigail Powell is planning a fresh start in the New Year. But first, she and her son will spend Christmas at Holiday House. Located in charming Silver Bells, Colorado, the house is home to her friend’s recuperating grandmother, Winnie. The sprightly octogenarian is keen to enlist her visitors in decorating her historic mansion for a seasonal town fundraiser.
Standing the way? Her personal Grinch: Winnie’s prickly grandson, Ethan. Who finds his frozen heart melting as the big day approaches.
3. One More for Christmas by Sarah Morgan
In One More for Christmas, sisters Samantha and Ella are hosting their mother for the holiday. They haven’t seen each other for five years – they answer the call when she invites the siblings to join her in the Scottish Highlands. As the snowflakes fall on their first family celebration in years, the three women attempt to generate some healing holiday magic of their own.
The best new Christmas mysteries, romances and novels of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
4. The Christmas Table by Donna VanLiere
The Christmas Table begins in June 1972, when John Creighton sets out to build his wife Joan a kitchen table. Fast forward to June 2012 and Lauren Mabrey, newly pregnant, buys an old table from a local builder. In it, she finds stacks of recipe cards, with notes written from a mother to a daughter. Having been raised in foster homes and never taught to cook, she sets out to learn via these recipes. As Christmas nears, and so does the baby’s due date, she becomes ever more sure that there’s a connection between the recipe writer and herself.
5. Jingle All the Way by Debbie Macomber
In Jingle All the Way, we meet Everly Lancaster – the middle sibling in a family with five children. A successful businesswoman who’s on the verge of burnout, Everly’s boss springs for a month-long December vacation. But her vengeful assistant sabotages the plan for a luxury resort stay, and she ends up “trapped” on a guided cruise in the Amazon. The ship’s charming naturalist lures her out of her preoccupation with work – and suddenly, the holiday promises to be much merrier than she expected.
6. A Dog’s Perfect Christmas by W. Bruce Cameron
In A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, a lost puppy arrives at a moment when the Goss family is struggling under the weight of several challenges and wondering if the holiday season is even coming this year. Is the stray dog just another in the string of calamities facing them? Or could the little canine be just what they all need?
The best new Christmas mysteries, romances and novels of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
7. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
It’s the most wonderful time of the year In a Holidaze – but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions. Making matters worse, its the last Christmas Mae will spend at the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have gathered every holiday. But an odd twist of fate and a strange time loop land her in a Groundhog Day repetition of her arrival in Utah. It’s going to take a miracle to snap her out of it and into her own true future.
8. The Gift of the Magpie: A Meg Langslow Mystery by Donna Andrews
The Gift of the Magpie is the 28th book and the seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series. Meg’s running Caerphilly’s Helping Hands for the Holidays project, in which neighbors help each other with things they can’t do and can’t afford to have done. Her hopes for a relatively peaceful (if busy) Christmas vanish when someone murders Harvey the Hoarder, whose house the Helping Hands were decluttering. Was there any truth to the rumor that he had something valuable hidden beneath all his junk?
9. Silent Bite: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt
In the latest installment of the ongoing Andy Carpenter Christmas mystery series, Silent Bite, attorney Andy returns from a December family pre-Christmas cruise to pleas from his partner, Willie Miller, for help. Willie’s old cellmate, Tony Birch, has been arrested for murder. Andy doesn’t necessarily believe in Tony, but Willie does. And Andy believes in Willie, which is why Andy decides to take the case.
The best new Christmas mysteries, romances and novels of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
10. Christmas Cupcake Murder (A Hannah Swensen Mystery) by Joanne Fluke
Featuring over a dozen cookie and dessert recipes from The Cookie Jar—Hannah Swensen’s famous bakery – this festive new Christmas mystery in the beloved series is just the sweet the season calls for. In the Christmas Cupcake Murder, while Hannah speeds through a lengthy holiday checklist, drama brews in town. A man found near death in an abandoned storefront two doors down from Hannah’s bakery has no memory of who he is or what happened. It’s cupcakes and chaos – you know, just like every other Christmas!
11. The Noel Letters by Richard Paul Evans
In The Noel Letters, the fourth book in the holiday series, Noel Post, an editor for a major New York publishing house, returns to her childhood home in Salt Lake City to see her estranged, dying father. Ultimately, she inherits the bookstore her father fought to keep alive. Reeling from loneliness and a recent divorce, Noel begins receiving letters from an anonymous source. As the holidays draw near, she receives a Christmastime revelation that changes not only how she sees the past but also how she views her future.
12. The Christmas Swap by Melody Carlson
All Emma Daley, Arizona school teacher, wants this holiday season is snow. In The Christmas Swap, she jumps at the chance of a vacation home swap and departs for a mountain home in the Colorado Rockies. It turns out that part of the swap is the presence of Tyler Prescott, the owner’s son and an in-demand songwriter who put his own singing career on hold to write songs for celebrity acts to perform. He decides to pose as the house’s caretaker. But when Emma’s friend Gillian discovers his true identity and sets her sights on him, things get . . . messy.
The best new Christmas mysteries, romances and fiction of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
13. Happily This Christmas by Susan Mallery
In Happily This Christmas, the author of the Fool’s Gold romances proves there’s no place like Happily Inc for the holidays. Wynn Beauchene has a thriving business, a great kid and a huge crush on local cop Garrick McCabe. When Garrick’s pregnant daughter announces she’ll be home for Christmas, and he asks Wynn to give his house “a woman’s touch” for the visit. But thawing his daughter’s frosty attitude will take more than a few twinkle lights.
14. One Charmed Christmas by Sheila Roberts
In One Charmed Christmas, Catherine Pine is hoping her holiday is a bit more jolly than last year’s. That one was her first without her husband, and with her kids and their families absent this year, she’s worried. But things change when her good friend invites her on a Christmas cruise to lift her spirits. Who knows what Santa has in store for these holiday travelers?
15. Christmas at the Restaurant by Pamela M Kelley
Part of the ongoing Nantucket Beach Plum Cove series, Christmas at the Restaurant involves a large cast of characters. Nantucket’s famous Christmas Stroll is always the first weekend of December. And this year sisters Mandy and Emma, and Paul, the executive chef, want to do something extra special for Mimi’s Place, the restaurant they co-own. Their sister Jill and her new husband, Billy, are planning to spend the whole month of December on Nantucket, too. When a lost love unexpectedly moves to Nantucket, a potentially boring winter on the island begins to look a lot more interesting.
The best new Christmas fiction books, including mysteries, romances and novels, of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
16. The Brightest Star by Fern Michaels
Christmas is more than just a celebration for Lauren Montgomery in The Brightest Star. For generations, it’s been her family’s livelihood via their Christmas shop, Razzle Dazzle Décor. But now, online sites are swallowing their sales. Lauren’s side hustle is writing biographies for business figures. And her next subject is none other than John Giompalo, the titan behind Globalgoods.com, the online retailer that has spelled doom for hundreds of small businesses. Like hers. When she meets the mogul’s son, sparks fly. With everything on the line, there’s no better time to make a secret wish on the brightest star.
17. A Christmas Resolution by Anne Perry
In A Christmas Resolution, a wickedly tangled holiday mystery, a smitten woman is about to marry a dangerous man. Unless Detective Hooper and his new wife, Celia, can prevent it.
18. The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
When it comes to relationships, thirty-four-year-old Kate Turner is ready to say “Bah, humbug.” In The Twelve Dates of Christmas, the sleepy town of Blexford, England, isn’t exactly brimming with prospects. her best friend signs her up for a dating agency that promises to help singles find love before the holidays. Twenty-three days until Christmas. Twelve dates with twelve different men. The odds must finally be in her favor . . . right?
The best new Christmas fiction books, including mysteries, romances and novels, of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
19. Mistletoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morgenthaler
Lana Montgomery is everything the quirky small town of Moose Springs, Alaska can’t stand: a rich socialite with dreams of changing things for the better. Mistletoe and Mr. Right is the second in a series of romantic comedies set in Moose Springs, Alaska. In this installment, Lana sets out to track down one of the town’s hairiest Christmas mysteries: the Santa Moose, an antlered Grinch hell-bent on destroying every bit of holiday cheer (and tinsel) it can sink its teeth into. How hard could it be?
20. A Princess for Christmas by Jenny Holiday
In A Princess for Christmas, a tough New Yorker from the other side of the tracks who falls for a princess from the other side of the world. Leo Ricci’s already handling all he can, between taking care of his little sister Gabby, driving a cab, and being the super of his apartment building in the Bronx. But when Gabby spots a “princess” in a gown outside of the UN trying to hail a cab, she begs her brother to stop and help. Before he knows it, he’s got a real-life damsel in distress in the backseat of his car. When Princess Marie of Eldovia asks Leo to be her driver for the rest of her trip, he agrees. And when he and Gabby end up in Eldovia for Christmas, he discovers the princess who is all wrong for him is also the woman who is his perfect match.
21. A Wild Winter Swan by Gregory Maguire
In A Wild Winter Swan, the author of Wicked turns his unconventional genius to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Swans,” transforming this classic tale into an Italian-American girl’s poignant coming-of-age story, set amid the magic of Christmas in 1960s New York.
The best new Christmas fiction books, including mysteries, romances and novels, of 2020. Courtesy Photos.
the best new Christmas novels 2020
That’s it! Our picks of the best new books of fiction, including novels, mysteries and romances, with a Christmas theme this year. What’s at the top of your list? Happy holidays – and happy reading!
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