Christmas:
The Twelve Books of Christmas by Kate Carlisle
In the middle of a Christmas holiday, Brooklyn and Derek receive a call from their friend Claire in Scotland. The laird of the castle has just proposed to her! They plan to be married on New Year's Day, and they want Derek and Brooklyn to be their witnesses. While they're visiting, Claire hopes that Brooklyn will be able to solve a mystery in the castle library – twelve rare books have gone missing. When one guest is poisoned and another is killed by an arrow, Brooklyn and Derek must find a killer and a thief before their friends' bright and happy future turns dark and deadly."
Christmas in Winter Valley by Jodi Thomas
Cooper Holloway would take nature over people any day – especially visiting relatives. That's why he's headed for a rustic cabin in remote Winter Valley, where he'll care for a herd of wild mustangs. But Cooper's plans are quickly thwarted by the arrival of two unexpected guests. Elliott is busy trying to keep Maverick Ranch running smoothly with Cooper gone, which is no easy task with family visiting. With a big, chaotic family Christmas around the corner and love blooming in surprising ways, the Holloway men will have to make big choices about the future – just in time for the holidays.
Faking Christmas by Kerry Winfrey
Laurel Grant works as the social media manager for an Ohio tourism magazine and website, but one tiny misunderstanding leads her boss, Gilbert, to think she owns her twin sister Holly's farm. Laurel only handles the social media for the farm, but she's happy to keep her little white lie going if it means not getting fired – she cannot be jobless again. And keep it going she must when Gilbert, recently dumped by his wife, invites himself over for the farm's big traditional Christmas Eve dinner.
True Blue Christmas by Susan Page Davis
New neighbors, cryptic Christmas cards, and jury duty. What next? Campbell McBride is juggling her new role as a private investigator with her slightly wacky personal life and excited to serve on a jury for a case concerning a painting that was stolen 20 years earlier. A young woman settling her grandmother's estate had taken the painting to have it appraised and ended up on trial for possessing stolen property. But then she is dismissed as a juror and the young woman, found innocent of criminal intent, hires True Blue Investigations to find out who stole the painting and how it ended up in her grandmother's attic.
Christmas Every Day: An Amish Romance by Linda Byler
Annie and Fannie are 10-year-old twins and the youngest of 12 siblings. Life is busy with so many living under the same roof, and though the twins love their family, they often feel overlooked. As Christmas approaches, they have the added burden of practicing for their little Amish school's play, but what they're really passionate about is getting a pony or horse. It's all they can think about. Well, that and the way their 30-year-old brother Mike is swooning over fancy Miriam. Delightfully sweet and brimming with the details of Amish life, this Christmas tale will leave readers smiling over the simplicity of Amish culture and the complexities of families and romance that transcend every culture.
The Christmas Quilt by Lenora Worth
As the holidays approach, Collette King is eager for Matthew Mueller's return to Shadow Lake. Especially now that she has finally surrendered to the truth – that the friend she has known forever, the first man she ever kissed, is the one she longs to spend her life with. So, when Mattie shows up at her sister's wedding with another woman on his arm, Collette's hopes are shattered. To heal her broken heart, she begins a quilt honoring her memories of Mattie. But every square she adds only makes her yearn for him more . . .
A Christmas Vanishing by Anne Perry
Mariah Ellison, Charlotte Pitt's grandmother, accepts her longtime friend Sadie's gracious invitation to spend Christmas with her and her husband, Barton, in their picturesque village. But upon arrival, Mariah discovers that Sadie has vanished without a trace, and Barton rudely rescinds the invitation. Once Mariah finds another acquaintance to stay with during the holiday season, she begins investigating Sadie's disappearance. With the holiday rapidly approaching, will she succeed in bringing Sadie home in time for them to celebrate it together?
Hanukkah
Jewish Holiday Cooking: More Than 200 Delicious Recipes for Celebrating by Joshua Korn
Holiday meals vary widely from Sephardic to Ashkenazic and Mizrahic traditions, meaning that for Jewish people, there's no one right way to celebrate. With nostalgic recipes and new dishes inspired from Moroccan, Russian, German, and more cuisines, these dishes rich in variety and heritage are sure to satisfy and delight. This book includes more than 250 flavorful recipes that celebrate regional authenticity and modern flair, sample holiday menus for Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Passover, breaking the fast of Yom Kippur, and Shabbat dinner... and more.
Miracles and Menorahs: A Friendships and Festivals Romance by Stacey Agdern
Sarah Goldman loves Hanukkah, and she's thrilled to be appointed as vice chair of the Hollowville Hanukkah Festival. So, when the festival is threatened with cancellation, she comes up with an idea: a new slogan and advertising campaign topped off with a metal menorah large enough to fill the center of town. But the committee's budget constraints threaten to stop her grand plans right in their tracks. Famous metal sculptor Isaac Lieberman also loves Hanukkah. But his vision of a perfect Hanukkah isn't a commercial community event; it's spending time with family, following age-old traditions. Can Sarah change his mind about more than just the holidays?
Love and Latkes: A Friendships and Festivals Novel by Stacey Agdern
Batya Averman is ecstatic when a latke fry-off committee chooses her as its web designer – until she learns the event is in the hometown she fled years ago. But she's no longer the girl with an embarrassing history and an unrequited crush on Abe Neumann. This delicious competition is Batya's chance to further her career, and this time she won't run. Abe Neumann can't pass up the opportunity to enter the town's latke contest. He dreams of throwing caution to the wind and leaving his accounting firm, opening a Jewish deli, and choosing his own happiness. The prize money would bring him closer to making his dream a reality, but when Batya comes back to town, Abe remembers that a deli isn't the only thing he's wished for.
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
For a decade, Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt has hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach. When her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration runs dry. Rachel is determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy – Jacob Greenberg. Their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah, but as they spend time together Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah – and Jacob.
It's a Wonderful Woof: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn
It’s a holiday adventure for lovable narrator Chet the dog and his human partner, PI Bernie Little. In the holiday spirit – despite the dismal shape of the finances at the Little Detective Agency – Bernie refers a potential client to Victor Klovsky, a fellow private eye. But Victor disappears in a rough-stuff way, and when he doesn't show up at his mom's to light the Hanukkah candles, she hires Chet and Bernie to find him. They soon discover that Victor's client has also vanished. The trail leads to the ruins of a mission called Nuestra Señora de los Saguaros, dating back to the earliest Spanish explorers. Some very dangerous people are interested in the old mission.
Kwanzaa
Miseducated by Brandon P. Fleming
This is an inspiring memoir of one man's transformation through literature and debate from a delinquent, drug-dealing dropout to an award-winning Harvard educator – all by the age of 27.
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, this book tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by a large and powerful American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean up and financial reparations to the villagers are made – and ignored. The country's government, led by a corrupt, brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interest. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight the American corporation. Doing so will come at a steep price.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother's death and her hidden past – a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake.
