Here in Vancouver and the surrounding area, we don’t usually have snow at Christmas. We tend to have snow later in the winter, after the holidays. Nostalgic types may long for the white Christmases of their childhoods, trying out new sleds on Christmas Day, drinking hot chocolate after ice skating, etc. Romantic types may yearn for the snow globe worlds of Hallmark Channel movies, sharing sleigh rides with a loved one, or decorating gingerbread houses while snow softly falls outside the window…
Fear not! The library does carry Hallmark Christmas movies on DVD If you can’t get enough on TV to put you in the holiday spirit. If you’d rather read your winter romance, we’ve got you covered as well:
Sweet like marshmallows
- “Her Christmas Secret” by Gabrielle Meyer (2024)
- “A Cross-country Christmas” by Courtney Walsh (2021)
- “So, This is Christmas” by Tracy Andreen (2021)
- “Always, in December” by Emily Stone (2021)
- “In a Holidaze” by Christina Lauren (2020)
- “Catching Christmas” by Terri Blackstock (2018)
- “One Day in December” by Josie Silver (2018)
Spicy liked hot mulled cider
- “How My Neighbor Stole Christmas” by Meghan Quinn (2024)
- “Wreck the Halls” by Tessa Bailey (2023)
- “Holiday Ever After” by Hannah Grace (2025)
- “Good Spirits” by B.K. Borison (2025)
Christmas-themed books from big name authors
Richard Paul Evans
- The Noel Collection and many others
Debbie Macomber
- “Dear Santa” (2021)
- “Merry and Bright” (2017)
Susan Mallery
- “Home Sweet Christmas” (2022)
- “Happily This Christmas” (2020)
also
- “Dashing Through the Snow” by Donna Andrews (2022)
- “The Santa Suit” by Mary Kay Andrews (2021)
- “A Snow Country Christmas” by Linda Lael Miller (2017)
- “Shepherds Abiding” by Jan Karon (2016)
- “Sarah’s Song” by Karen Kingsbury (2004)
Even without snow, you can still spend a melt-y evening with a warm winter romance. And to all, a good night!
Some of these are sweet like Hallmark movies, some are spicy, and some are just books from big-name authors that are themed around the Christmas season. Enjoy with a hot beverage - spiked or not, as the mood takes you.
Beth Wood is a senior collection development librarian for Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries. Her column, Check It Out, is published weekly in The Columbian.
New at the Library
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org, or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
FICTION
“12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas” by Natasha Bache
“It’s Me They Follow“ by Jeannine A. Cook
“Twice Around a Marriage” by Robert Olen Butler
NONFICTION
“100 Rules for Living to 100” by Dick Van Dyke
“The King Cookbook” by Clare De Boer
“Lincoln’s Ghost: Houdini’s War on Spiritualism and the Dark Conspiracy Against the American Presidency” by Brad Ricca
CHILDREN
“My Two Christmas Trees” by Adam Ciccio
“What is Lunar New Year?” by Vivian Jun Kirklin
“The Tale of the Vanishing Circus” by Kayla Cottingham
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