the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite winter holiday romance?

The month of December is rife with holidays. The biggies are Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s but if I’ve missed one that matters to you, let me know.

We love holiday romances at AAR. The tag holiday romance has 287 entries and I’m sure there are many we’ve missed. (If you see one, tell me!)

My family celebrates Christmas so my favorite holiday stories are connected to that holiday. Here are a few I love:

Courtney Milan has been at the top of my Christmas romance list for over a decade. I can never decide which I like better: A Kiss for Midwinter or This Wicked Gift. The former is classic Milan–there’s a feminist heroine, a beta(ish) hero who is AWESOME, and messaging about both abortion and birth control. It’s a perfect novella–Milan is the queen of such. I am, however, always shocked that Milan is the author of This Wicked Gift. The hero blackmails the heroine in a way that, at first, is truly hard to take–it’s a setup I can’t see Milan embracing today. That said, she makes it work and the love story is lucious. I reread both tales every December.

Juliana Stone’s The Christmas He Loved Her is an angsty, smart story with slightly older leads. This is a story about connecting with those you’re estranged from in some way–the relationships in this book, both between the lovers and between others in their lives are explored deftly. It’s moving, sexy, and threaded with humor. It’s a DIK for me.

And, it’s not a romance but I have to mention The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. It’s the only A+ I’ve ever given at AAR. If you’ve never read it, no matter what your age, prepare to have your heart broken and mended anew. It is, to me, perfect.

How about you? What are your favorite winter holiday romances?

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