Welcome to a huge celebration of Christmas-themed books! Every November I impulse buy a ton of Christmas-themed books (mostly romances) and dump them onto my Kindle. I then spend the next two months wallowing in wonderful, heart-warming, sometimes sexy reads. This year I'm sharing twelve of my favorites, and day ten takes us to Wales for a romantic women's fiction novel by one of my favorite writers.
♥ If you missed yesterday's Christmas reading recommendation, click here.
Named of the Dragon, by Susanna Kearsley
The charm of spending the Christmas holidays in South Wales, with its crumbling castles and ancient myths, seems the perfect distraction from the nightmares that have plagued literary agent Lyn Ravenshaw since the loss of her baby five years ago.
Instead, she meets an emotionally fragile young widow who's convinced that Lyn's recurring dreams have drawn her to Castle Farm for an important purpose--and she's running out of time.
With the help of a reclusive, brooding playwright, Lyn begins to untangle the mystery and is pulled into a world of Celtic legends, dangerous prophecies, and a child destined for greatness.
I'm an unashamed fangirl for Susanna Kearsley's The Splendour Falls, so I was very happy when my friend Lindsay Emory mentioned that Named of the Dragon takes place over the holidays, meaning I could include it in the 12 Days of Christmas Reads. To me, Kearsley's books are the reading equivalent of a warm down comforter that I can wrap myself in and spend an entire indulgent day enjoying. As with the other books of her I've read, there's an element of supernatural (this time in the form of dreams) that connects the heroine with the past. Although not a romance, it's romantic with a grumpy but really a good man hero (my favorite) and a secondary romance threading throughout the story that's spiked with bits of Welsh and Arthurian legend.
Check back tomorrow for more Christmas reading recommendations as the 12 Days of Christmas Reads rolls on with a miracle at the solstice served up in one delightful romance. If you want to see all of the 12 Days of Christmas Reads recommendations in one place, you can check out this handy landing page. And be sure to download my London-set Christmas novella, Kiss Me at Midnight.