Best Holiday Romance Novels of 2025

By Laura Eckert, Digital Specialist

'Tis the season for mistletoe, hot cocoa, and heartwarming love stories! As the snowflakes fall and the holiday spirit fills the air, there's nothing quite like curling up with a good book. And what better time to indulge in a romantic tale than during the most wonderful time of the year? I've never met a Hallmark movie too cheesy or a holiday romance novel too cheery, so I'm going to share my list of best holiday romance novels of 2025.

Whether you're dreaming of cozy small-town Christmas markets, second-chance love stories by the fireplace, or whirlwind winter romances, Clermont County Public Library has the perfect holiday read waiting for you. So grab a blanket, light a candle, and get ready to dive into these delightful holiday romances that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Best Holiday Romance Novels

Good Spirits by B.K. Borison

Book description: Ghost of Christmas Past Nolan Callahan intends to spend this holiday haunting like every other--get in, get out, return to his otherwise aimless existence as a ghost awaiting the afterlife.

But when he's faced with Harriet York, the sweetest assignment he's ever had, he suddenly finds himself wishing for a future. Harriet York has no idea why she's being haunted. She's a good person--or, at least, she tries to be. A people pleaser to her core, she always does what's expected of her.

But as she and Nolan begin to examine her past, they discover threads binding them together--and realize there might be more to moving on than expected. With the deadline of Christmas Eve fast approaching, will they find the key to their futures in each other's pasts? Or will they stay firmly in the present, indulging in their unexpected, spirited connection?

(Check out those pretty sprayed edges on the book!)

Check out Good Spirits. Also available as an audiobook from hoopla Digital and an ebook from Libby.

Trope: Fated mates

You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Sophie Sullivan

Book description: Maisie Smart doesn't look back. Not on the choice she made to be a photographer, and not on the one-night stand she had six months ago. But sleeping with a professional hockey player who bolted the morning after is a whole new level of embarrassing.

Now she's about to spend the week at Tickle Tree Farms with her family this Christmas—and then the universe throws a Grinch in her festive plans. Nick King is a mess. After a significant injury benches him, he has more time to dwell on his anxieties and the one-night stand he can't get out of his head. With the holidays around the corner, he figures visiting his sister and nephew at their Christmas tree farm will be a good way to sort himself out. That's impossible when he learns Maisie is there, still beautiful and justifiably angry about the way he left.

But Christmas is the time for second chances, and the forced proximity may help Nick and Maisie unwrap feelings neither of them can walk away from twice.

Check out the ebook from Libby or the audiobook from hoopla Digital.

Trope: Grumpy/sunshine

The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer

Book description: Evelyn Schwartz has the perfect Hanukkah planned: eight jam-packed days producing the live-action televised musical of A Christmas Carol. Who needs family when you've got long hours, impossible deadlines, and your dream job? That is, until an accident on set lands her in the medical bay with one of her chronic migraines, and she's shocked to find her ex-husband, David Adler, filling in for the usual studio doctor.

It's been two years since David walked away from Evelyn and their life in Manhattan, and his ex-wife is still the same workaholic who puts her career before everything else--especially her health. But when Evelyn begins hallucinating "ghosts" tied to her past heartbreaks, and every single one leads to David, he finds himself spending much more time with her than he anticipated. And denying the still-smoldering chemistry between them becomes impossible.

As Evelyn revisits her ghosts of Hanukkah past, she and David both begin to wonder if they can have a Hanukkah future. But with a high-stakes production ramping up the pressure on Evelyn, and troublesome spirits forcing them both to confront their most difficult shared memories, it might just take a Hanukkah miracle for these two exes to light the flame on their second-chance at love.

Trope: Second chance romance

Check out The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah. Also available as an audiobook on hoopla Digital. And an ebook on Libby.

The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan

Book description: Mirren Sutherland stumbled into a career as an antiquarian book hunter after finding a priceless antique book in her great aunt's attic. Now, as Christmas approaches, she's been hired by Jamie McKinnon, the surprisingly young and handsome laird of a Highland clan whose ancestral holdings include a vast, crumbling castle.

Family lore suggests that the McKinnon family's collection includes a rare book so valuable that it could save the entire estate--if they only knew where it was. Jamie needs Mirren to help him track down this treasure, which he believes is hidden in his own home.

But on the train to the Highlands, Mirren runs into rival book hunter Theo Palliser, and instantly knows that it's not a chance meeting. She's all too familiar with Theo's good looks and smooth talk, and his uncanny ability to appear whenever there's a treasure that needs locating. Almost as soon as Mirren and Theo arrive at the castle, a deep snow blankets the Highlands, cutting off the outside world.

Stuck inside, the three of them plot their search as the wind whistles outside. Mirren knows that Jamie's grandfather, the castle's most recent laird, had been a book collector, a hoarder, and a great lover of treasure hunts. Now they must unpuzzle his clues, discovering the secrets of the house--forming and breaking alliances in a race against time.

Check out The Secret Christmas Library. Also available as an audiobook or ebook from Libby.

Trope: Love triangle

I'll Be Home for Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

Book description: Fred Hallow-Hart isn't in love with the idea of returning home to Pine Bluff. But after a bad breakup and a subsequent eviction, she's fresh out of options. God knows she loves her mum and her eccentric aunts-and who could forget their Christmas Cracker family business?-but she's always felt a little out of place in her small town.

Quickly roped in by her mother to help with the cracker shop, Fred decides that throwing herself into work might actually be what's best for her. Until she reconnects with her old best friend Ryan, who is suddenly making her heart flutter in ways she's never known, and unexpectedly finds a spark with Warren, a charming journalist covering the Pine Bluff Christmas Market for the Daily News.

But as these connections slowly lead Fred back to her heart, she's forced to confront some harsh truths, which, if she doesn't find a way through, might just ruin the holidays for those dearest to her. Can Fred let go of the past enough to recognize real love? And when she does, how far will she go to protect it?

Check out I'll Be Home for Christmas. Also available as an ebook and audiobook from Libby.

Trope: Friends to lovers

While It Was Snowing by Julia London

Book description: All Amy Casey wants for Christmas is to paint. She needs five new portraits for the show at her local art gallery, but between her two teenage sons, her needy ex-husband, and her overbearing parents, she hardly has any time for herself. Luckily, her best friend has the perfect solution: a vacant family lake house in North Texas, all hers for two weeks of distraction-free painting. Or so she thought.

Turns out professional golfer Harrison Neely also rented the lake house so he can spend the holidays rehabbing the injury that has put his career--and life--on hold. Despite the booking snafu, both Amy and Harrison (along with the army of nutcrackers residing in the living room) agree to share the festive lodging.

When an impending snowstorm has the two cozying up by the fire, sparks fly in more ways than one, and they open up to each other, unwrapping secrets and stories they've never shared before. But after the holidays, Harrison is getting back on the tournament circuit, and Amy needs stability. As their departure date looms nearer, they'll have to decide if this December to remember has been a fun holiday fling, or if they've found a Christmas miracle: true love.

Check out While It Was Snowing. Also available as an audiobook from hoopla Digital and an ebook from Libby.

Trope: Meet disaster

Holly Jolly July by Lindsay Maple

Book description: Like naughty and nice, Mariah and Ellie are complete opposites. Small-time actress Ellie is thrilled to be back on the set of a cozy holiday film, while makeup artist Mariah only views the low-budget project as a stepping stone on her way to more serious movies. The pair definitely don't hit it off when they're introduced, but if they want to survive the summer heat—and Mariah's stifling Canadian hometown—they've got to keep it professional. Luckily, holiday cheer is Ellie's specialty, and she's determined to win stubborn Mariah over.

Check out Holly Jolly July as an ebook from Libby. Also available as an audiobook from hoopla Digital.

Trope: Opposites attract

A Little Holiday Fling by Farah Heron

Book description: Ruby Dhanji loves two things with her whole heart: Christmas and anything to do with the UK. For Ruby, the holiday season means joy, generosity, and warm memories with her late mother. And now she's on the verge of realizing the dream she and her mom always had: moving to England and opening a cozy inn. The only problem is that Ruby needs some hotel experience first.

Rashid just doesn't get all the holiday hype. But when he meets a woman dragging home a Christmas tree alone from the Winter Market, he has to offer to help—even if he soon finds Ruby adores all the things he dislikes. When Ruby discovers that Rashid's family owns a luxury boutique hotel chain in Britain, she offers him a proposition: she'll help him give his young nieces an amazing Christmas if he'll facilitate an introduction to his family.

Check out the ebook of A Little Holiday Fling on Libby.

Trope: Grumpy and sunshine

More Book Suggestions

Looking for more book suggestions? Ask the staff during your next visit to a library branch - we love talking about books!

Check out the What to Read Next page of our website; it includes staff picks and other lists created by our librarians.

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