December Recommendations Roundup

I have a practice I love of saving several of my favorite summer reads for my annual family beach vacation. It really helps me set the mood for the entire experience. Last year I decided I’d try the same approach for winter. And it worked!  Reading essentially the book version of a feel-good Hallmark movie gave me the best holiday feels. I am so excited to do it again this year – and here are two I’ve got tucked away for my holiday treat! It is coincidental that the first one is from one of my go-to summer beach read authors? Of course not!

When fall rolls around, it’s time for Kerry Tolliver to leave her family’s Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City to help her gruff older brother & his dog, Queenie, sell the trees at the family stand on a corner in Greenwich Village. Sharing a tiny vintage camper and experiencing Manhattan for the first time, Kerry’s ready to try to carve out a new corner for herself.  Filled with family ties, both rekindled and new, and sparkling with Christmas magic, Bright Lights, Big Christmas delivers everything Mary Kay Andrews fans adore, all tied up in a hilarious, romantic gem of a novel. You can read more and get your copy here.

Hannah and Finn have spent every Christmas together since college. Neither has anywhere else to go—Hannah’s parents died, and Finn’s disowned him when he came out. Their tradition of offbeat holiday adventures only grows more outrageous with time. When the pair starts their adult lives in New York City, they add stylish Priya and mysterious Theo to the group, solidifying a found family and sense of belonging they’ve always craved. But now, when Finn announces a move to L.A., this Christmas may be their last. Does growing up mean growing apart? This Christmas the changes these friends fear may be exactly what they need. You can read more and get your copy here.

I also had a chance to watch Something from Tiffany’s while traveling this week. Such a sweet holiday show!  You can watch the trailer here.

Next up are some thriller(ish) reads, including this new release from another familiar author…

Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J. D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead—very dead—on the hotel’s tearoom floor.
 When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past and if there’s one thing she knows for sure, it’s that secrets don’t stay buried forever. You can read more and get your copy here.

The once-rising literary star Olivia Fitzgerald is down on her luck. Her most recent novel—a retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca—was a flop, her boyfriend of nine years just dumped her and she’s battling a bad case of writer’s block. So when her agent calls her with a high-paying ghostwriting opportunity, Olivia is all too willing to sign the NDA. At first, the write-for-hire job seems too good to be true. All she has to do is interview Henry “Ash” Asherwood, a reclusive mega billionaire, twice named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, who wants her help in writing a book that reveals a shocking secret about his late grandmother and Daphne du Maurier. But when Olivia arrives at his Malibu estate, nothing is as it seems. The more Olivia digs into his grandmother’s past, the more questions she has—and before she knows it, she’s trapped in a gothic mystery of her own. You can read more and get your copy here.

I loved Greenwich Park, so I’m excited for this one!

When a young nanny is found dead in mysterious circumstances, new mom, Tash, is intrigued. She has been searching for a story to launch her career as a freelance journalist. But she has also been searching for something else—new friends to help her navigate motherhood. She sees them at her son’s new playgroup. The other mothers. A group of sleek, sophisticated women who live in a neighborhood of tree-lined avenues and stunning houses. When the mothers welcome her into their circle, Tash is quickly swept up into their wealthy world via coffees, cocktails, and playdates. But when another young woman is found dead, it’s clear there’s much more to the community than meets the eye. The more Tash investigates, the more she’s led uncomfortably close to the other mothers. Are these women really her friends? Or is there another, more dangerous reason why she has been so quickly accepted into their exclusive world? Who, exactly, is investigating who? You can read more and get your copy here.

Here are just a few of the many new great shows out you can watch during the holidays!  First up is the screen adaptation of a popular read…

Siblings set aside their differences to deal with their mother's death--and her hidden past, an odyssey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake. You can watch the trailer here.

Lady Bird Diaries presents the story of one of the most influential and least understood first ladies in history, Lady Bird Johnson, using her own audio diaries. You can watch the trailer here.

This next one is loosely based on the story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher who went to jail in 1997 for a sexual relationship with a student, only to later marry him. Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance, a married couple buckle under the pressure when a Hollywood actress meets them to do research for a film about their past. You can watch the trailer here.

Anne and her estranged train-wreck of a sister, Jenny, must work together to help cover their mother's gambling debts. When Anne's beloved dog is kidnapped, they set out on a wild cross-country trek to get the cash. You can watch the trailer here.

 Finally, a recent study found that people who commit daily "micro-acts" of joy experience about a 25% increase in emotional well-being over the course of a week. You read more about it here.