Winter Recommendations 2020 🎄❄ Festive & Wintery stories

Hello fellow bookworms 🎄 It’s time for another seasonal recommendations post! Like the one I did for Fall, this is themed around moods I associate with winter time – my favorite season ❄💕 When it comes to winter I only have two moods: SNOW and CHRISTMAS, which says a lot about my personality 😄 That’s why I made these my two themes for today’s post! I have some festive stories centered around Christmas that I love as I’m always hunting for more books to get me into a festive mood 🎄 I also included some stories that have wintery/snow settings, as I know not everyone likes/celebrates Christmas and apart from that holiday I’m obsessed with snow! (I moved in October and this year we had 12 DAYS OF SNOW!!!!!!! I cannot remember the last time this happened and I’m so happy as snow always makes me feel so full of excitement and wonder 🥺❄)

 🎄 You Might Also Like ❄

• My Ultimate Christmas Movie Guide ➽ 2019
• Things to Do in Winter (+ Recs) ❄ with Swetlana 💕 ➽ 2018
• Books to read in winter ➽ 2017

🎄 Festive/Christmas 🎅

My True Love Gave to Me (Anthology of 12 authors) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ Each year, I adore this Anthology more and come to appreciate even the stories that I didn’t like as much before. I love how each author manages to hook me with such a short story that actually packs a punch and doesn’t feel cut short. There are magical stories, contemporary tales and also stories focused on Non-Christmas holidays like Hanukkah and the Winter Solstice, so something for everyont to enjoy ❄ My favorite stories are the ones by Kiersten White, Holly Black, Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman, Myra McEntire and Kelly Link 🥰

A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ One of the only classic stories I have ever liked, I adore this story and reread the book every year! It’s a bit tough to understand at first with the dense writing, but the story is rather short and impactful, so I still like it! The classic tale of Scrooge being visited by the three spirits and undergoing a major character change is one of my favorite Christmas stories 🎄 (also highly recommend the animated movie, my personal favorite!)

Snow in Love (De La Cruz, Stone, Friedman, West) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 ➽ This is a newer anthology, and I was surprised by how much I loved it! The four stories aren’t connected but I adored three of them! My favorite is probably West’s story about a girl teaming up with her high school crush, his sister and friends to drive through a blizzard to get home, it was very cute and wholesome 🥰 Stone’s story is about a scavenger hunt in an airport during Christmastime and features two girls who used to be friends and also crushes! Friedman’s story has a more unlikable main character, but I liked that it featured character growth, a department store during Christmas and a Jewish protagonist! The only story I didn’t like was the one from De La Cruz!

Let it Snow (Green, Myracle, Johnson) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 ➽ I just realized this was published way back in 2008, but I still love the stories! They are all interconnected and take place during a blizzard, so there are lots of snow adventures, a trope I really like ❄ My favorite story will always be the first one by Maureen Johnson was it has a cozy and wholesome feel to it 💕 I like the other two stories as well, though the objectification of cheerleaders still annoys me. There’s also a Netflix movie adaption, which I like, though it changes quite a few things from the book!

The Afterlife of Holly Chase (Cynthia Hand) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 ➽ I haven’t seen much hype for this Christmas story, but I adore it as it’s A Christmas Carol retelling, drawing inspiration from my favorite classic story! I loved the spin on the original story and how cleverly done the modern adaption was! Holly – much like Scrooge – remained a really unlikable character, who was however well-written and engaging. You’re not supposed to like her at first, but I like a good antiheroine story with personal growth! 👍

A Boy Called Christmas (Matt Haig) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ This is a Middle Grade origin story of Santa Claus (or Father Christmas) and I loved how imaginative and overall fun it was. Nikolas was such an endearing character and even though the story got surprisingly dark at times, it always had a hint of hope, kindness and festiveness 🎄 I’ve been wanting to read some fiction by Matt Haig after unexpectedly loving his nonfiction work and I was not disappointed! 💕

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares (Cohn & Levithan) ⭐⭐⭐.5 ➽ Since this just became a Netflix series, I had to mention Dash & Lily! The book is about two teens who trade dares through a red notebook in festive New York and feel themselves falling for each other, yet they don’t know the other in real life 📕 There were some things that bothered me about the book, but it’s a great, fast-paced and overall festive adventure story! (I have to say that I liked the show more though, so I recommend you watch it as well)  🎄

This Winter (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐ ➽ I recommend you read Solitaire and the Heartstopper comics first, as this is a novella featuring the main characters of these stories and what they’re up to during Christmas Time. I liked that this one dove into the downsides of the festive season and how hard it can be to deal with relatives who don’t understand what you’re going through 😔 It was a bit rushed in the end, but still a good read!

Booked for Christmas (Lily Menon) ⭐⭐⭐ ➽ I loved the romance in this festive adult novella, as it had some of my favorite buzzwords: enemies to lovers, unresolved sexual tension, banter and being snowed in! The fact that it was about a famous romance writer and her book critic was so much fun to read  🥰I have to admit that I didn’t like how the story portrayed romantic love as the ultimate ideal everyone needed to strive for though.

❄ Wintery/Snowy Setting ❄

Frostblood (Elly Blake) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ I LOVE ice magic, which is why this book appealed to me so much! It’s set in a world where ice and fire users (called Frost or Firebloods) are enemies with rarely any Firebloods left on the continent, except for a girl trying to escape prosecution for her powers. The romance here was really good and I liked the flawed main character, plus the setting was so cool! There are several common Fantasy tropes, but I didn’t mind as I had such a good time reading this 😄

The Silvered Serpents (Roshani Chokshi) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ This is actually the sequel to The Gilded Wolves (so much sure you read that one first 😂) but I couldn’t resist including it, as it has such a frosty, wintery setting! Without saying too much, the primary setting is an ice palace and in general the book has some darker, more melancholy vibes that fit well with a stormy winter night. So when you’ve read the first book, I highly recommend continuing with the series as it’s really great!

Wintersong (S. Jae-Jones) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ As far as I can remember this is also set during winter, as it’s tied to the actual plotline. This is a story about the mysterious Goblin King and the Bride he takes each year to let spring bloom. I liked the mythology and atmosphere shown here, it’s dark, haunting and full of complicated emotions. The main character is struggling with her identity a lot and the dash of dark romance was really interesting to read about!

Hunted (Meagan Spooner) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ Apart from the cover being really winter-inspired, I think this also takes place during the colder season and gives off this melancholy but also surprisingly cozy vibe. It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling that I really enjoyed, as it had a determined heroine and an interesting take on the Beast and the curse. It’s been a while since I read it, but it was a quick read, perfect for winter! ❄

We Are Okay (Nina LaCour) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ➽ If you’d rather read a wintery book that’s a contemporary We Are Okay is perfect! Not only is it actually set during winter and involves some snow, it also feels colder emotion-wise since the book deals with grief and feeling lost 😔 The book was so haunting, atmospheric but also addictive, as I was really invested in the main character’s inner struggles. You could say that the weather in the book mirrored how cold the protagonist felt inside and I really liked that parallel!

Have you read any of the books on my list? What are your favorite books to read in the Winter? ❄

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