What Makes Christmas Romance So Special?

By Nan Reinhardt

I love the holidays, don’t you? For years, it’s been my second-favorite time of the year, only fall beats the holiday season for me. But I’d written five romance novels before I discovered the enticing world of Christmas romance stories. I’m an avid reader of romance—have been all my life—but I’d never thought about holiday romances being a special genre of romance novels. 

I’m wondering if Christmas books have always been big and somehow I missed it, or if this craze for holiday love stories has taken off recently. If it has, why? What has pushed holiday romance to the top of the bestseller charts on Amazon and other book vendors’ lists?

I asked Husband, the fountain of all wisdom in our house, what he thought. Why were Christmas romances so popular? “The holidays are a happy time and people like to be happy,” was his answer and I couldn’t argue with him. But I think it’s more than that.

Thanks to the Hallmark channel and Lifetime movies and the holiday movie rush at theaters, we’ve been, not brainwashed exactly, but perhaps led by the film and television industry to believe that Christmas is all about falling in love and discovering that perfect romance among the mistletoe and holly. Maybe it is… it’s certainly a time when we all celebrate family and gather with loved ones. We party and share wonderful meals and give one another gifts—it is all about the love. 

But Christmas romance novels are a phenomenon unto themselves—each one is a take on a familiar romance trope—lost-then-found love, second-chance love, new love, hidden babies, accidental pregnancies, friends-to-lovers, grumpy-man/woman-finds-joy—except that it all happens during the holidays. They aren’t particularly about Christmas or New Year’s, but the holidays provide the backdrop for the stories, and somehow make the romance all that much sweeter. Is that the key? We fall into the snowy, shivery, red-and-green-spangled world of Christmas with our characters, and our hearts are warmed and we’re glad to be in their universe, even if just for a little while.

I confess that I’ve become as much a Christmas romance addict as anyone else—I watch holiday movies on Hallmark, I love Christmas specials, and I cheer for my fellow romance authors who’ve had their books turned into films. And yes, I write Christmas romances (two, in fact!), and hold out hope that Hallmark or Lifetime or any of the myriad other channels will want to make one of my holiday romances into a movie. 

Maybe Husband is right. Maybe it is all about the happy. Here’s my holiday question for the universe—are romance novels just a little bit sweeter when they’re set during the Christmas season? If, for you, the answer is a resounding yes, here’s a short list (with links!) of a few of my favorites (and okay, so sue me: There is a bit of shameless self-promotion because the list does include my own books, in particular, my newest, Christmas with You, book 3 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing):

Christmas with You by Nan Reinhardt

A Small Town Christmas by Nan Reinhardt

The Dark Horse by Liz Flaherty

Oh, Christmas Night by Jane Porter

The Christmas Wish by Barbara Ankrum (Now a Hallmark movie, Holiday Hearts)

Christmas at the Edge of the World by Kate Hewitt

The Christmas Sing Off by Sinclair Jayne

This Christmas by Jeannie Moon

Christmas at Sleigh Bell Farm by Kaylie Newell

Their Christmas Miracle by Lynne Marshall

Montana Secret Santa by Debra Salonen

Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today-bestselling author of romantic fiction for women in their prime. Yeah, women still fall in love and have sex, even after 45! Imagine! She is a wife, a mom, a mother-in-law, and a grandmother. Nan has been a copyeditor and proofreader for over 25 years, and currently works on romantic fiction titles for a variety of clients, including Avon Books, St. Martin’s Press, Kensington Books, and Entangled Publishing, as well as for many indie authors.

Although she loves her life as an editor, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. Her latest novel, Meant to Be, Book 2 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing releases on July 18, 2019. A Small Town Christmas, which is the first book in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing, is available now, and she is currently hard at work on Book 3.

Visit Nan’s website at www.nanreinhardt.com, where you’ll find links to all her books as well as blogs about writing, being a Baby Boomer, and aging gracefully…mostly. Nan also blogs every sixth Wednesday at Word Wranglers, sharing the spotlight with five other romance authors and is a frequent contributor the RWA Contemporary Romance blog, and she contributes to the Romance University blog where she writes as Editor Nan.

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Christmas with You (Book 3 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series)

by

Nan Reinhardt

She’s loved him all her life… but will he be there when she needs him the most? 

Disheartened and adrift after being written out of a hit TV show, actor Aidan Flaherty returns to his family’s historic winery, where he’s invested some of the fortune he’s made. As the holidays approach, Aidan becomes intrigued with the old showboat that’s dry-docked just east of town… and even more intrigued with the daughter of his former mentor, who now owns it. He decides to buy the boat and restore it to its former glory.

Single mom Holly Santos is back in River’s Edge after her divorce and she is over men in general and actors in particular. If she could only get rid of her father’s old showboat, a source of fascination for her son, Mateo. She never expects her old crush to walk into her tea shop or the fireworks that happen every time they’re in the same room.

Can Aidan convince her that he is determined to restore their shared heritage on the showboat and that he’s home to stay?

https://tulepublishing.com/books/christmas-with-you/

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