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Holiday Cheer 2019

Holiday Cheer

Holiday Cheer 2019

At Bookreporter.com, we've been celebrating the holiday season in style with our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. As our gift to you, we've been spotlighting a book and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it.

Although the contests have ended, we encourage you to take a look at this year's featured titles. These are books you'll want to read during the holidays --- and throughout the new year as well!

- Click here to see the winners of this year's Holiday Cheer contests.

5 Ingredients: Quick & Easy Food by Jamie Oliver - Cookbook


Jamie Oliver --- one of the bestselling cookbook authors of all time --- is back with a bang. Focusing on incredible combinations of just five ingredients, he's created 130 brand-new recipes that you can cook up at home, any day of the week. From salads, pasta, chicken and fish to exciting ways with vegetables, rice and noodles, beef, pork and lamb, plus a bonus chapter of sweet treats, Jamie has all the bases covered. This is about maximum flavor with minimum fuss, lots of nutritious options and loads of epic inspiration.

25 Days 'Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander - Romance

Kate Potter used to love Christmas. A few years ago, she would have been wrapping her presents in September and baking mince pies on Halloween, counting down the days and hours to Christmas. But that was before Kate’s husband left for the army and never came home. Now she can hardly stand December at all. Kate can’t deny she’s lonely, yet she doesn’t think she’s ready for romance. She knows that her son, Jack, needs a Christmas to remember --- just like Kate needs a miracle to help her finally move forward with her life. So she’s decided if there isn’t a miracle on its way, she’ll just have to make her own. As Kate’s advent countdown to the best Christmas ever begins, she soon realizes that even with the best laid plans, you can’t plan for the unexpected.

Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan - Fiction


In her comfy cottage nestled in the Derbyshire hills, Rosie Hopkins has good reason to feel a warm blush in her cheeks. With Christmas weeks away, the holiday is being ushered in with England’s first glorious snowfall of the season. Her boyfriend, Stephen, is starting his new job as a teacher in the village school. Her quaint Sweetshop and Confectionery has been restored to its former glory, and she has a lovable mop of a new puppy named Mr. Dog. Most joyous of all, Rosie and Stephen’s relatives will finally be gathering together in Lipton for what is sure to be a merry feast. But when a devastating tragedy strikes at the heart of the close-knit town, plans for a cozy Christmas are suddenly in danger of melting away.

Finding Christmas by Karen Schaler - Romance


With all the glittering decorations, twinkling lights, snow angels, gingerbread men and mistletoe, Christmas is Emmie’s first love. This year, she can’t wait to share her favorite Christmas traditions with her boyfriend, Grant. She thinks he’s “the one.” So when Grant’s hectic work schedule has him more “Bah Humbug” than “Ho, Ho, Ho,” Emmie creates a holiday-themed scavenger hunt to help him find his Christmas spirit. At the end of the journey, Grant will arrive at the charming town of Christmas Point, where she’s planned a romantic weekend filled with holiday activities. But Emmie’s plan backfires when a mix-up has the wrong guy following her clues!

The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey - Historical Fiction

Selina Lennox is a Bright Young Thing. Her life is a whirl of parties and drinking, pursued by the press and staying on just the right side of scandal, all while running from the life her parents would choose for her. Lawrence Weston is a penniless painter who stumbles into Selina's orbit one night and can never let her go, even while knowing someone of her stature could never end up with someone of his. Except Selina falls hard for Lawrence, envisioning a life of true happiness. But when tragedy strikes, Selina finds herself choosing what's safe over what's right.

A Mrs. Miracle Christmas by Debbie Macomber - Fiction


Laurel McCullough and her husband, Zach, have been praying for a baby that seems more and more like an impossible dream, and they’ve had to move in with her beloved grandmother, Helen, who’s having trouble taking care of herself. But when Laurel contacts a local home-care organization for help, there are no caregivers available. Then Mrs. Miracle appears at the door. No stranger to lending a helping hand to a family in need, Mrs. Miracle reveals herself to be nothing short of a godsend. Laurel can’t help but notice that with Mrs. Miracle’s companionship, Helen is noticeably happier and more engaged. In the meantime, Laurel and Zach encounter curious signs, all pointing toward the arrival of a special baby.

The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life's Direction and Purpose by Oprah Winfrey - Self-Help


In THE PATH MADE CLEAR, Oprah shares what she sees as a guide for activating your deepest vision of yourself, offering the framework for creating not just a life of success, but one of significance. The book’s 10 chapters are organized to help you recognize the important milestones along the road to self-discovery, laying out what you really need in order to achieve personal contentment, and what life’s detours are there to teach us. Oprah opens each chapter by sharing her own key lessons and the personal stories that helped set the course for her best life. She then brings together wisdom and insights from luminaries in a wide array of fields, inspiring readers to consider what they’re meant to do in the world and how to pursue it with passion and focus.

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory - Romantic Comedy


Vivian Forest tags along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary. Malcolm Hudson has worked for the Queen for years and has never given a personal, private tour --- until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling. Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy affair come New Year’s Day. Or are they?

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali - Fiction


Roya is a dreamy, idealistic teenager who finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood book and stationery shop. When Mr. Fakhri introduces Roya to Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry, she loses her heart at once. A few months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square, but violence suddenly erupts --- a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. More than 60 years later, though, an accident of fate leads Roya back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did he leave? Where did he go? How was he able to forget her?

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg - Literary Thriller/Mystery


When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist --- and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous. But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit --- or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance?