Merry Christmas! and Christmas Books I Still Hope to Read

by Donna Huber

It's Christmas! Did you get to read a lot of Christmas books this month? I would love to know what you read and which were your favorites. I'm almost finished with my last Christmas book that I had in my review pile for 2025, A Christmas Witness by Charles Todd. I'm still waiting for a few holds of Christmas books to come in at the library.

If you still want to read more Christmas books, be sure to check out all the 25 Days of Christmas Reading recommendations.

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A Christmas Witness by Charles Todd

October 2025; Mysterious Press; 978-1613166895
audio, ebook, print (216 pages); holiday mystery

I feel like I've read a short story about Inspector Ian Rutledge, but I can't remember where (I've read a few mystery anthologies the last couple of years). I'm about halfway through the book and really enjoying it. It is set in 1920s England, and I do love an old-fashioned English Christmas. A free book was provided for an honest review.

I like Inspector Rutledge. He served in the trenches during the Great War and has recently been promoted to Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. He has come back with a little shell shock, which shows up as the voice of a man he had shot for something akin to mutiny. As the newest Chief Inspector and a single man, he is sent to Yorkshire at Christmas time to investigate an incident with the Lord of the Manor. Rutledge kind of reminds me of Thomas Llewelyn from Will Thomas's Barker and Llewelyn series.

A Christmas Witness is listed as book 24.5. Though I haven't read any of the novels in the series, I'm having no problems jumping right in with this seasonal novella. It makes me want to read the previous books in the series.

I'm hoping to find time today to read the rest of the book. It is a quick read when I find the time to sit down to read. 

There have been several mentions of wassailing (caroling) in the book so it would be a great book to pair with a hot cup of Wassail. You can find my recipe on an earlier 25 Days of Christmas Reading post.

Buy A Christmas Witness at Amazon

Christmas in Bayberry by Jennifer Faye

I put my hold on this book the week BEFORE Thanksgiving and I'm still waiting. I've gone from 4th to 2nd on the list. There's still a small hope that I will get it before the end of the year.

Kate Taylor knows what she wants in to one day run her family’s candle business, which is at the heart of the close-knit community of Bayberry, Vermont. But the company isn’t doing well.

Wesley Adams is on the fast track to be an assistant vice president at his financial firm in Manhattan. Before the promotion is announced, he’s sent to this small town from his past to do an analysis of the candle company.

He doesn’t expect to bump into his childhood crush, Kate, and when he does, sparks fly. As he spends time in Bayberry, he falls for the town’s Christmas traditions—and for her. But he has a responsibility to submit an honest report. Will it extinguish Kate’s dreams…along with any chance they have for a future together? (Goodreads)

Buy Christmas in Bayberry at Amazon

A Bookshop Christmas by Rachel Burton

I didn't put my hold on this book until December 2, and it is very unlikely that I will get it before the end of the year - I'm currently number 10 on the waitlist (I started at 11th). It might go back on the wishlist for next year.

A snowstorm. A stranger. A spark. And it's Christmas!

It should be the perfect start to the perfect love story.

But real life is far messier and more complicated than in the pages of the books in Megan Taylor's family bookshop – the last few years have left this young widow in no doubt of that. Moving back home to York should have been a fresh start, but all it did was allow her to retreat from the world.

When prize-winning author Xander Stone rams his supermarket trolley into her ankles and then trashes her taste in books, Megan is abruptly awoken from her self-imposed hibernation. It's time to start living again, and she's going to start by putting this arrogant, superior – admittedly sexy – stranger in his place.

Just as she is beginning to enjoy life again, the worst happens and Megan begins to wonder if she should have stayed hidden away. Because it turns out that falling in love again is about more than just meeting under the mistletoe. (Goodreads)

Buy A Bookshop Christmas at Amazon

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

This is another book that I put on hold BEFORE Thanksgiving. I tried to listen to the audiobook last Christmas, but I was way too far back on the list. I'm only doing marginally better this year - I'm 13th on the list (started at 21st). The audiobook is less than 3 hours long so I don't know why the line doesn't move faster. Since it has never been available without a long wait all year long, I don't know why none of the libraries in the consortium has bought another copy.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma's aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she'd ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later. (Goodreads)

Buy The Christmas Guest at Amazon

Their Christmas Miracle by Lynne Marshall

I was also hoping to read a few of the Christmas ebooks that are on my Kindle from years past. I added this book in December 2019. I'm not sure I will get to it before the end of the year. I have 1 more book in my review pile for 2025, so I need to read it.

Hunter Wood wants to be respected. A talented cook, he’s ventured out on his own, opening a breakfast and lunch diner in Charity, Montana. He’s got a lot to prove—mostly to himself—and more than a few people to convince he’s a changed man.

Tracy Blevin is a registered nurse and pie baker extraordinaire, who is drawn to a most unlikely man, Hunter Wood. A nurturer by profession, she likes to feel needed, but the only thing Hunter needs her for is her pies. Their friendship has changed over the last six months as business partners. The more time Hunter spends with Tracy, the more he finds things to like about her. She's smart, organized, and...those bright green eyes and delicate mouth are really starting to get to him. Maybe it's time to move beyond just partnership...

When a Montana winter car crash leaves a baby an orphan, Godfather Hunter, lives up to his promise, taking in the ten-month old. With the season of miracles upon them, Hunter can no longer deny his strong attraction towards Tracy. Is her life-long wish for her own family finally being answered this Christmas? (Goodreads)

Buy Their Christmas Miracle at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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