'Deck the halls with boughs of holly la la la la....'
Be grateful that this isn't a sound recording as my singing is terrible and you would all be running for the hills by now! Not that that stops me having a little festive sing song when no one else is around.
Enough of singing. Let's talk books because I am much better at that lol. There are some fantastic Christmas books around this year..... both new and old. My favourite Christmas book remains A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I am mentioning it here as it did not seem neccessary to place it in the top ten below as it is a given for me.
So, here are ten Christmas titles which I think look amazing.
I am including this as it was a firm favourite with my children when they were younger.
The magical, award-winning story of The Jolly Christmas Postman has been delighting children for generations, making it the perfect book to share on Christmas Eve!
The Jolly Postman has a busy day ahead. It's Christmas Eve in Fairy-Tale Land and there's plenty of post for him to deliver! There's a card for Baby Bear, a game appropriately called 'Beware' for Red Riding Hood from Mr Wolf, a get-well jigsaw for Humpty Dumpty and many more! But, can he deliver it all by Christmas? Little ones will love opening the envelopes to read the post in this magical story, full of festive, fairy tale surprises!
Eighteen passengers. Seven stops. One killer.
In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again.
Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again?
All aboard for . . . Murder on the Christmas Express.
It's December 1940 and East London is expecting snow. But after months of nightly visits from the Luftwaffe, it will take more than a white Christmas to turn the bombed streets of Stepney festive. Young Eleanor Jolly, newly widowed after her husband stopped a German bullet on Dunkirk beach, is trying to pull through for the sake of her baby James. Her mother-in-law - the deceptively-named Ruby Jolly - isn't helping.
Klaus Wagner is the loneliest German in London. Having narrowly escaped imprisonment by the Gestapo for his work on an anti-fascist newspaper, he signs up for the British armed forces, hoping to save his beloved country from Nazi rule. But the holiday season is making him homesick for the family and friends he left behind.
However, Prue and Fliss Carmichael have a plan to boost morale: a surprise Christmas pantomime. When Ella comes on board, she wasn't expecting to find a German dissenter roped into the cast. Especially not an undeniably handsome German dissenter, with cornflower eyes and a mischievous smile.
This Christmas, the hunters become the hunted…
When four trail hunters go missing in the fells of Cumbria on Christmas Eve, the race is on to find them before nightfall – when the temperature plummets.
After hours of searching, the first body is found… Not frozen in the snow, but brutally murdered and bearing a warning: the real hunt has begun.
As a snowstorm descends, three lives hang in the balance. But can the killer be caught before the trail goes cold?
From the master of Christmas crime comes a thriller that will chill you to the bone this Winter, perfect for fans of James Patterson, Clare Mackintosh and anyone who prefers their mince pies with a side of murder.
A long-lasting friendship
Every year, Erica, Claudia, and Anna reunite for their book club holiday. They’re bonded by years of friendship and a deep love of books, but there is still so much they keep from each other . . .
A perfect Christmas escape
At the cosy Maple Sugar Inn, Hattie specialises in making her guests’ dreams come true, but this Christmas all she wants is to survive the festive season. Between running the inn and being a single mother, Hattie is close to breaking point.
The start of a brand-new story…?
Over the course of an eventful week, Hattie sees that the friends are each carrying around unspoken truths, but nothing prepares her for how deeply her story will become entwined in theirs. Will this Christmas be the end of the book club’s story or the start of a whole new chapter?
One dead Santa. A town full of suspects. Will you discover the truth? Christmas in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking amongst the amateur dramatics enthusiasts. Sarah-Jane is fending off threats to her new position as Chair, the fibreglass beanstalk might be full of asbestos, and a someone is intent on ruining the panto even before the curtain goes up. Of course there's also the matter of the dead body. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they read the round robins, examine the emails and pore over the police transcripts. Will the show go on?
Christmas is not always the season of goodwill. As this hugely entertaining collection shows, it can also be the season of mysterious deaths, hidden poison bottles and blunt instruments...
Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, cloth-bound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. The stories in Classic Christmas Crime Stories have been selected and introduced by writer David Stuart Davies.
This collection of ten stories from the golden age of British crime writing features festive whodunits by Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. There are unexplained deaths by all manner of suspect means from famous writers such as Baroness Orczy and Marjorie Bowen, and dastardly Christmas crimes to be solved from esteemed crime writers such as Robert Barnard, Nicholas Olde and H. R. F. Keating. Each story is brilliantly plotted – some deliciously tense, others laced with humor – and each is bound to thoroughly entertain.
Alice, Kate and Naomi want to keep the magic of Christmas alive in their village of Churchwood but a thief in the area and a new family that shuns the local community are only the first of the problems they face.
Naomi is fighting to free herself from Alexander Harrington - the man who married her for her money then kept a secret family behind her back. It could be the start of a whole new life for her, but after years of Alexander controlling - and draining - her finances, two questions remain to be answered: how much of her money is left, and will she be able to achieve the independence she craves?
Alice's dreams came true when she married sweetheart Daniel. Now he has returned to the war and Alice misses him terribly, but she is delighted to discover that she's carrying his child. Will she, Daniel and the baby make it through the war unscathed?
For Kate, life with her dysfunctional family on Brimbles Farm has never been easy but she now has Land Girls Pearl and Ruby to help, giving her more time for her friends. She's also in love with pilot Leo. But what sort of shadow will be cast over the lives of all at Brimbles Farm when her brother returns from the war with terrible injuries? And why has Leo stopped writing?
As ever, the Wartime Bookshop is a source of community and comfort. But disaster is about to strike...
This Christmas, will she give her heart to someone special?
Toy shop manager Naomi is determined to make this Christmas a record-breaker. But when The Entertainment Emporium’s Santa falls ill, Naomi needs a stand-in—quick! And buttoned-up accountant Will is her only option… Forced to spend the festive season with him, in heart-racing proximity, Naomi starts to see the real Will. But revealing her true self could change everything… Does she dare let Will unwrap her guarded heart?
When Paige turns up unannounced at Wynthorpe Hall, she discovers the place she knew when she was growing up has changed beyond all recognition. She’s only planning to stay for a short time, but is quickly pulled into local life.
One night while driving home after delivering library books and shopping to residents she stumbles across an isolated cottage and meets Albert, its elderly and rather grumpy owner. She quickly realises there’s more to Albert than meets the eye and the same can be said for the other man she can’t seem to help running into, handsome but brooding Brodie.
All three of them have a secret and a desire to hide away from the world, but with Christmas on the horizon, is that really the best way to celebrate the season?
(header photo courtesy Unsplash)
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