🎅I Read 122 Christmas Books. Here Are My Top 24!

Get one personally approved Christmas book recommendation for every day of Advent, so you can make the most of your holiday reading and skip the rest.

This year, I decided to tally all the Christmas books I’ve ever read and recommend only my top picks of all time for you in any and every genre. Having only one broad list means far fewer books make the cut than when I maintained several niche lists.

Why? Christmas reading has such a short season that I want you to make the most of your festive reading.

The backstory: Over the past several years, working in the book industry, I have made it my mission to read as many Christmas books as possible. They spanned everything from the classics to contemporary fiction in a variety of genres: romance (of course, but never too spicy), family dramas (my favorite), historical fiction, short stories, nonfiction, children’s books, classics, mysteries, young adult, thrillers— you name it!

Then, I would catalog and categorize my reviews for readers by sub-type into several posts, incorporating most of them in some way.

This year, though, I placed my early holiday book requests and was mostly disappointed by what I ended up reading. So, I decided to tally one “best of” list.

Ironically, without even trying, it tallied 24 books—one for each day of Advent! Of course, I don’t expect anyone to read 24 books in 24 days, but regardless, I thought the number felt festive and fun to keep this way. I look at it more like one to consider each day of Advent.

The 24 Best Christmas Books I’ve Ever Read

24 is a lot of books! (in the spirit of the line, “8 is a lot of legs, David,” from Love Actually) So, I’m limiting myself to two sentence teaser reviews of each one below. We are all busy this season, after all!

📚 Means it’s also on the Gilmore Girls book list

7 - A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd: If you like the popular movie adaptation as much as my family, who watches the 24-hour marathon every Christmas Day, then you’ll also appreciate the original text. It’s similar in content and style, and it adds a bit of extra unique charm.

8 - Faking Christmas by Kerry Winfrey: This festive rom-com follows Laurel, who pretends her sister’s farm is her own (and that her nemesis is her husband) when her boss invites himself for Christmas, only for a snowstorm to trap them all together and blur the lines of their pretend marriage. What I loved about this one was that it took the familiar trope of “fake dating” and made it feel fresh, funny, and perfectly seasonal.

9 - Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman: This second-chance romance novel (written by a man!) is the only 2025 release to make my top 24 list. It’s about two widows coping with grief who decide to watch holiday movies together, and my only question is, “Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?!”

10 - Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris: Sedaris has such a way with humor, and his holiday collection takes us back to the funniest moments in his Christmases past, like the diaries of a Macy’s elf. They’re stories I fondly recall each holiday since I first read them.

11 - 📚How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss: If “the book was better” is your motto, then you’ve got to indulge in the original story of the iconic Grinch. Paired with the original illustrations, this classic children’s story of a grump turned sunshine is a chef’s kiss!

12 - In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren: This is my spicy romance selection, in case you’re new to the genre and missed it when it was released a few years ago! By way of a love triangle, Maelyn relives her Christmas vacation as if it were Groundhog Day, trying to fix everything that went wrong the first time she experienced Christmas.

13 - Light on Snow by Anita Shreve: This unputdownable coming-of-age novel follows a 12-year-old and her father, who are coping with grief as they discover an abandoned infant and are pulled into a criminal investigation that deepens when a woman tied to the baby arrives during a blizzard. While this plot may trigger some, I found that its quiet tone, including such subtle descriptions as the home’s dust captured in the winter light, made the characters’ grief feel tangible and encouraged me to empathize with the darkest corners of their lives.

14 - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: We may or may not agree on whether this is a Christmas classic, but I just can’t ignore that this novel for all ages begins at Christmas and offers us many magical moments of a good old-fashioned American holiday season, filled with the DIY charm and creativity characteristic of the four sisters at its core. Pair it with the beloved movies, of course!

15 - The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter: This cozy Christmas mystery feels like the movie Knives Out blended with a romantic comedy, following rival authors as they’re snowed in at the mansion of the famed “Duchess of Death,” who vanishes from a locked room. Unraveling her disappearance reads like a festive game of Clue— one that’s never too cheesy or too dark, but rather perfect for a cold night by the fireplace!

16 - The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore: This classic for all ages remains the perfect read for Jolabokaflod (Iceland’s December 24 book exchanging tradition), otherwise known as…the night before Christmas. It’s the magic of Christmas in words, but you already knew that— I’m just reminding you.

17 - One Day in December by Josie Silver: When this Reese’s book club pick was announced years ago, it was all Bookstagram could talk about, and that popularity has never waned. If you love the holiday movies Serendipity and Love Actually, you’ll probably love this one, too.

18 - The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg: My favorite book in any genre as a child, I checked it out from the library more times than I can count, and used to “check on it” when I didn’t. What keeps me coming back is the theme of Christmas magic and the absolutely breathtaking illustrations.

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19 - Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory: This second-chance romance follows Vivian, who joins her daughter on a work trip to England and falls into a flirty fling with the Queen’s handsome private secretary as New Year’s approaches. It’s a minimal spice delight that I think about every holiday season for its royal Christmas vibes and refreshing perspective from Black, middle-aged protagonists.

20 - Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak: This severely underrated holiday family drama is an absolute gem that follows the Birches as they’re quarantined together for Christmas after their doctor daughter returns from treating the deadly Haag virus. Nearly perfect as both a Christmas novel and a family drama, it blends The Family Stone’s emotion with Love Actually’s British humor to capture everything that is both joyful and bittersweet about the season.

21 - Skipping Christmas by John Grisham: The original version of the slapstick movie Christmas With the Kranks delivers just as much holiday humor and heart. If you aren’t familiar with the story, Luther and Nora Krank decide to skip everything about Christmas one year, but their family and friends simply refuse to allow it.

22 - The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss: This charming small-town romance follows Kate as she’s signed up for twelve holiday dates (each quirkier than the last), forcing her to reassess her feelings for a friend who runs a cafe where she works part-time. Perfect for all you Gilmore Girls fans, it delivers Stars Hollow vibes through a slowly burning connection that feels very “Luke and Lorelai.”

23 - Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand: If you ever wondered if the queen of the beach reads could take on snow, the answer is yes. This first book in a series of four Christmas books begins the journey of Nantucket’s Quinn family, with just as much family drama and “rich people problems” as you might expect, plus an added dose of festivity.

24 - You Better Watch Out by James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth: This holiday horror is a “popcorn thriller” reminiscent of an M. Night Shyamalan movie, following a group of strangers kidnapped and trapped in a fake Christmas town. As deadly traps pick them off one by one, it feels eerie throughout, then delivers a major plot twist that you won’t see coming!

See the Rest of My Full Christmas Reading List With 98 More Book Reviews

Below the paywall, paid subscribers can access a quick list of starred reviews of all the other Christmas books I’ve read that didn’t make my top 24.

It’s broken down by the number of stars I gave the book. I also added a few new books I started but didn't finish this year.

My goal is to help you get quick reviews (from a reader like Rory Gilmore) of the books on your “to be read” list, so you can decide what to prioritize this December. The paywall also helps me be unfiltered!

So, drink the Christmas “tea” below.