6 Novels to Read If You Love Hallmark Holiday Movies

Christmas Charms

Teri Wilson

You can't get more Hallmark than Christmas Charms, a new release from Hallmark's publishing company. Wilson's seen several of her books become Hallmark films, and this one has everything we love about the network's holiday favorites, including a small-town romance, complete with a dog wrapped in a Christmas bow, and a magical charm bracelet. Ashley is in her late 20s and has returned to her hometown after seeing what she thought was her dream Christmas go up in smoke. Instead of being proposed to by her boyfriend in Paris, she's back home in Owl Lake, constantly running into her ex-boyfriend Aidan, who's now a hunky firefighter. What's really strange, however, is how the charms on the antique bracelet a stranger gave her on the train home seem to represent things she wished for as a child that are now coming true. Maybe her dream Christmas wasn't in Paris, after all.

A Heartfelt Christmas Promise

Nancy Naigle

Coincidentally, this one also follows a heroine who thought she would be spending Christmas in Paris. Vanessa Larkin was hoping to turn her business trip into a working vacation, but instead her company sends her to Fraser Hills, North Carolina — home of the best fruitcake in the U.S. Unfortunately, she's not here to spread holiday cheer but to shut down the fruitcake factory and turn it into warehouse space. Widower Mike Marshall's grandfather founded the factory but sold out to a big Chicago corporation years before. Even though Mike was never involved with the business, he wants to preserve one of the last pieces of the town's legacy for future generations, including his 16-year-old daughter. As he shows Vanessa around and she engages in the holiday festivities, she begins to wonder if she can give her new friends a Christmas miracle. There's also a bonus romance in this one, between Vanessa's recently retired second cousin, Anna, and Mike's grandfather Buck.

A Vineyard Christmas

Jean Stone

At midlife, author Annie Sutton has finally followed her dream of living on Martha's Vineyard by renting a cottage on Chappaquiddick. She never imagined that the cottage would also come with a baby left on her doorstep in the midst of a Christmas blizzard. Suddenly, she's in the middle of the kind of mystery she might write, complete with plot twists and turns. Adopted herself, Annie knows what it's like to feel abandoned. She can't bring herself to take the infant girl to the police station, so she decides to find the birth mother on her own, in the hope that she'll change her mind. Secrets are hard to keep in a small town, though, especially when Annie meets a certain handsome police officer. (A reissue)

HawkTale Publishing

Christmas Ever After

Karen Schaler

This fun novel centers on Riley Reynolds, an author in her late 30s who gets caught off guard in an interview when she's asked how she can write about love when she still hasn't found “the one” yet. Three of her ex-boyfriends see the interview and, looking to win her back, surprise her by showing up at her Christmas Camp book event at the Christmas Lake Lodge. As her fans gather at the lodge, Riley must balance her three exes while trying to write her next book to redeem herself after her last offering bombed. Follow along as each of Riley's exes plans elaborate dates worthy of The Bachelorette and she starts falling for them all over again, learning more about herself in the process. If you loved Hallmark's version of Christmas Camp, based on Schaler's book of the same name, you'll want to check out this new take on Christmas camp.

Dafina

The Gift of Family

Mary Monroe

Middle-aged couple Eugene and Rosemary Johnson seemingly have it all, but they're still holding out hope for the one thing they want most: a child. They've fostered teenagers twice, only to have them return to their birth families. Then Rosemary is told she'll need a complete hysterectomy, and they feel their dreams slipping out of their hands. When Eugene reaches out to Ethel, the woman who took care of him and his brother as children, to help Rosemary recuperate from her surgery, he has no idea how it will change their holiday plans — and their lives. Ethel is a widow in her 60s who's struggling to raise her three great-grandchildren, and it isn't long before the two families start depending on each other more and more. This sweet holiday tale works through complicated real-world problems while tugging at your heartstrings in all the right places.