Happy Ho-Ho-Holiday's!

Reading & Recommending.

Hello reading friends,

I can’t believe how fast the festive season arrived. I’ve been trying to get through the last of my holiday TBR stack of books and thought I would check in with you all about how it’s going.

You might remember I shared the five books that I am trying to read before Christmas. Sadly, I ended up DNF’ing (well, technically I just skipped the last third and read the end) Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel. It just started to drag a bit for me, and I was getting impatient for things to start happening.

If you enjoy a cozy romance that takes its time with world-building, then it might be the book for you. I now know why I am not a fantasy reader. I get too impatient. lol

I’ve started reading The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy. I love the idea of an advent calendar of activities for the holidays. I might try to do something similar next year. Would you try it?

I’m only a few chapters in, so I don’t have much to say on it yet, but I will let you know my thoughts when I am done. I’m starting to sweat making meeting my goal!😥 I’m glad so many of you had faith in my on the poll asking if you thought I would finish my stack!

Book Blurb -

She’s given up on love and Christmas…but fate has other plans.

All Callie wants for Christmas is to hibernate. She's still reeling from being dumped by her childhood sweetheart, and under no circumstances will she go home for the holidays considering her ex will be right next door with his new, perfect partner. Callie is officially in grinch mode, but her meddling sister, Anita, won’t let her give up on life, love, and Christmas quite so easily.

Anita stages a Christmas intervention for Callie with a homemade Advent calendar challenge—cheerful tasks to push Callie out of her comfort zone and into the holiday spirit, inspired by a childhood tradition. Callie reluctantly plays along, but when she comes face-to-face with a charming baker who just might be the spoonful of sugar she needs, her strict rules on love and the holidays are tested. As they strike a deal to do the activities together, could the twenty four little doors on Callie’s Advent calendar not only open up one, but two closed-off hearts?

Next, I have a recommendation for you Hallmark holiday movie watchers. 🍿🎥🎬

I’ve invite author Janet Raye Stevens to tell us how her delightful holiday book, Cole for Christmas, came to be.

Take it away, Janet!

Cole for Christmas is a sweet, sassy romantic comedy following Katy, an event planner getting over a bad breakup, and Cole, a chef who was left at the altar, as they work to keep a Christmas Eve wedding hit by blizzard on track—while trying *not* to fall for each other. Basically, a Hallmark Christmas movie in a book.

And it all began as a dream. A stress dream, of all things.

Before I began writing full time, I worked running fundraising events for nonprofits. Anyone who’s ever planned a wedding or even a large family gathering knows functions have many moving parts and lots of things can go wrong. Plumbing issues, food not delivered on time, and as is always a risk here in New England, snow. Not just a few flakes, either. I once ran an event in April that got slammed by a spring blizzard and had to be cancelled.

I guess that particular disaster stayed with me because many years later, I dreamed I was managing a big event at the ultra-elegant Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA (you’ve seen it in movies, most recently Little Women). Anything that could go wrong did, including snow. As I ran around, trying to set things right, this little old lady followed me, calmly advising me, “Everything’s going to work out.”

I woke up before finding out if everything did, indeed, work out. The dream lingered, and like any writer looking for a new idea, I sketched out a scenario. The event became a Christmas wedding and the snowstorm became a raging nor’easter. I added a hot chef as the event planner’s love interest, a case of mistaken identity to sweeten the conflict, and a metric ton of mistletoe. The little old lady became a pivotal character who meddles and matchmakes, encouraging an extremely reluctant Katy and Cole to move past their heartbreak and say “I do” to a new romance.

It’s no spoiler to say you’re guaranteed a happy ending, but Katy will have to travel a bumpy (and funny!) road before she ultimately gets Cole for Christmas.

Check out Cole for Christmas HERE for the e-book or HERE for the paperback.

❤️📖✨

Cole for Christmas is a very fun holiday read that will keep you hooked from the first page!

For all my Jane Austen fans, come join me tonight on the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation YouTube channel for a livestream at 7pm EST with fellow volunteer Mindy Killgrove-Harris. We will be sharing some Austen related gift ideas, upcoming Austen adaptation in 2025, and more! (if you can’t join live, you can view all our livestreams any time on the channel)

Wishing you loads of cozy reading!

The Literary Assistant is Reader-Supported! Thank you so much for being part of this community! If you love the recommendations and would like to show your support, it means the world to me—THANK YOU! 💛

Please note, all posts are free for everyone to enjoy. Your support helps keep this space thriving for book lovers like you! 😊

Affiliate links are used at no extra cost to you, but they help me earn a small amount—just enough to grab a coffee and keep writing! ☕