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Let’s finish out this year strong—here’s the best book club picks for December 2020!
It’s been a year unlike any other. But among all the hardships we all have faced, we still have books! Let’s hope for 2021 for things to get back to normal. Be sure to check out my huge list of must-read book club picks for 2021. There’s so many fantastic books coming out next year that you’ll never run out of anything to read.
So my monthly lists are typically dedicated to new books publishing that month or recently published books but I think we could all use a bit more holiday cheer. So I decided to list five holiday-themed books that will end the year on a high note.
Let’s get into the best book club picks for December 2020!
One Day in December by Josie Silver
One Day in December by Josie Silver is one of my favorite reads of the past couple of years! The story starts off in the holiday season so it counts as a holiday read for me. It’s so heartwarming and impactful. I hope they make this story into a movie or TV series sometime in the future. Here’s the synopsis:
Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.
Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.
What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check out my book club questions here.
The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan
I’m not typically a romance reader so I wasn’t sure if The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan would be for me. But a friend sent me her copy and I’m so glad she did! There is romance in this story but it’s very much about families. It’s quite a touching story! Here’s the synopsis:
In the snowy Highlands of Scotland, Suzanne McBride is dreaming of the perfect cozy Christmas. Her three adopted daughters are coming home for the holidays and she can’t wait to see them. But tensions are running high…
Workaholic Hannah knows she can’t avoid spending the holidays with her family two years in a row. But it’s not the weight of their expectations that’s panicking her—it’s the life-changing secret she’s hiding. Stay-at-home mom Beth is having a personal crisis. All she wants for Christmas is time to decide if she’s ready to return to work—seeing everyone was supposed to help her stress levels, not increase them! Posy isn’t sure she’s living her best life, but with her parents depending on her, making a change seems risky. But not as risky as falling for gorgeous new neighbor Luke…
As Suzanne’s dreams of the perfect McBride Christmas unravel, she must rely on the magic of the season to bring her daughters together. But will this new togetherness teach the sisters that their close-knit bond is strong enough to withstand anything—including a family Christmas?
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check out my book club questions here.
Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak
So Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak was written way before our current pandemic situation. But it does feature a family having to quarantine during the holiday season because of an illness (in this case, similar to ebola). I read this back in 2018 but it would be interesting to read it now with how the world has changed. But it’s very much a holiday and family-driven story. Here’s the synopsis:
It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter—who is usually off saving the world—will be joining them at Weyfield Hall. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. She’s just returned from treating an epidemic abroad and has been told she must stay in quarantine for a week…and so too should her family.
For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity, and forced into each other’s orbits. Younger, unabashedly frivolous daughter Phoebe is fixated on her upcoming wedding, while Olivia deals with the culture shock of first-world problems.
As Andrew sequesters himself in his study writing scathing restaurant reviews and remembering his glory days as a war correspondent, Emma hides a secret that will turn the whole family upside down.
In close proximity, not much can stay hidden for long, and as revelations and long-held tensions come to light, nothing is more shocking than the unexpected guest who’s about to arrive….
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check out my book club questions here.
A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan
Another Sarah Morgan holiday story for you! I really liked A Wedding in December as well. The setting is great in Colorado and it’s also focused on family dynamics during the holidays. Here’s the synopsis:
In the snowy perfection of Aspen, the White family gathers for youngest daughter Rosie’s whirlwind Christmas wedding. First to arrive are the bride’s parents, Maggie and Nick. Their daughter’s marriage is a milestone they are determined to celebrate wholeheartedly, but they are hiding a huge secret of their own: they are on the brink of divorce. After living apart for the last six months, the last thing they need is to be trapped together in an irresistibly romantic winter wonderland.
Rosie’s older sister, Katie, is also dreading the wedding. Worried that impulsive, sweet-hearted Rosie is making a mistake, Katie is determined to save her sister from herself! If only the irritatingly good-looking best man, Jordan, would stop interfering with her plans…
Bride-to-be Rosie loves her fiancé but is having serious second thoughts. Except everyone has arrived—how can she tell them she’s not sure? As the big day gets closer, and emotions run even higher, this is one White family Christmas none of them will ever forget!
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check out my book club questions here.
Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
So this is the only one on the list I haven’t read yet but I’ve been meaning to read this one! I loved Meet Me in Monaco by these authors and so I know this will be an impactful read. Also, this is a historical fiction novel so something different from the other holiday contemporary options. Here’s the synopsis:
August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.
But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…
Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict—but how?—and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears—and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?
Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris—a cherished packet of letters in hand—determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…
You can order the book on Amazon here.
Happy reading and happy holidays!
