These 4 Christmas novels promise romance, mystery and lovable mutts
Looking for a last-minute stocking stuffer for the book lover on your list? These four little holiday tales are ready for wrapping and then reading.
“Alaskan Holiday”
By Debbie Macomber
Ballantine, 224 pp.
★★★ out of four
Baby, it’s cold outside! (Sorry, bad joke.) But it is, truly! This is Alaska, folks. We’re in a remote place called Ponder, a one snowmobile kind of town where the weather is frightful, the camaraderie delightful. Our star-crossed lovers (who alternate narrating this little gem of a holiday romance) are Palmer, a sweet, attractive local guy who custom-makes swords, of all things, and Josie, a pretty sous chef who has spent her summer and fall working at the Ponder lodge. Now Josie needs to return home to Seattle to start her dream job at a new restaurant, while Palmer wants her to stay and marry him. This old-fashioned love story (these two kiss and kiss and kiss but never seem to get to second base) is enlivened by some amusing local characters, a surprising #MeToo subplot in the Seattle kitchen, and Josie’s worries about balancing love and career. Will these kids work it out by Christmas? Author Debbie Macomber is a pro, and “Alaskan Holiday” promises to melt any frozen heart.
— Jocelyn McClurg
“The Noel Stranger”
By Richard Paul Evans
Simon & Schuster, 352 pp.
★★½
Reading a schmaltzy holiday-themed Richard Paul Evans tome has become as much a part of the season as hanging stockings by the fire and putting out cookies for Santa. But even St. Nick whiffs on the gifts sometimes, and the same goes for our author with “The Noel Stranger,” part Mexico travelogue and part haphazard melodrama. Maggie owns a Salt Lake City catering business but is (understandably) in a deep funk after her politician husband is caught with a secret family in Colorado. She meets and flirts with Andrew, a handsome guy who runs a local Christmas tree lot, and their courtship quickly moves from putting lights on a balsam fir to a long Thanksgiving weekend in Cabo. The major conflict revolves around Andrew's complicated backstory. But that comes late in "Noel," leading to a whiplash of revelations and complicated feelings before Evans, as usual, ties the bow nicely at the end.
— Brian Truitt
“Mutts and Mistletoe”
By Natalie Cox
Putnam, 310 pp.
★★★
Fans of “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” rejoice! Natalie Cox’s light and funny holiday romance features a protagonist who could go toe-to-toe with Bridget Jones or Becky Bloomwood. Having just broken up with her boyfriend and being, well, a bit of a Grinch, Londoner Charlie is ready to skip Christmas and hole up in her apartment with some chardonnay and Audrey Hepburn movies. But when her upstairs neighbor’s gas oven explodes, leaving Charlie homeless and a little bruised, she finds herself spending the season with her cousin Jez, who runs a doggy day care center in the countryside. Not exactly a dog person, Charlie takes on running Cozy Canine Cottages when Jez heads north to Lapland for a holiday romance of her own. Throw in a pregnant beagle, a deaf Great Dane, a country vet with piercing blue eyes and an inappropriate Christmas jumper (sweater), and you’ve got a sweet, festive tale guaranteed to cheer all you Grinches. A “Mutts” sequel is on our holiday wish list for next year.
— Mary Cadden
“A Christmas Revelation”
By Anne Perry
Ballantine, 173 pp.
★★★
Do you like a dash of darkness with your holidays? Mystery lovers can be counted on to relish some spice in their eggnog. (Guilty!) Dickens meets Gillian Flynn in Anne Perry’s latest Christmas period piece. In old London town in the 1860s, an urchin named Worm has found a home at a medical clinic that treats prostitutes. When Worm sees a beautiful woman roughly accosted on the street by two men, he tells his pal Squeaky Robinson, the clinic’s accountant (and former brothel owner). Squeaky and naive Worm (these two could be right out of “Oliver Twist” or “A Christmas Carol”) team up as unlikely detectives to try to save the damsel in distress (who may not be as innocent as she appears). Meanwhile, crusty old Squeaky gives orphan Worm, 9, some chuckle-worthy tips on how to keep Christmas. Perry’s taste for horror emerges in a deadly fire in the final pages. Lest you be too alarmed, be assured that the real “Christmas Revelation” here is the warm holiday embrace of young Worm’s makeshift family.
– McClurg
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: These 4 Christmas novels promise romance, mystery and lovable mutts
