It is officially December, and the holiday season, and all the goodness that is the beginning of winter. ( I specify the beginning of winter because let’s be honest, none of us like the middle or never-ending stretch of winter by the end, ha!) And during the cold winter months, I love to stay inside with a snuggly blanket, a cup of hot cocoa (extra marshmallows or whipped cream) and a good book. Truthfully, Christmas movies and books are my favorites and I can’t wait to dive into my 2017 holiday reading list this year!

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. I’ve always been a big reader (probably because my mom was such a bookworm while I was growing up) but in college I kind of lost my love of reading. I think I got so caught up in classes, studying, going out with friends, and all of my newfound independence that reading just naturally took a back seat. But upon moving to NYC, I quickly realized that it was time to get back into one of my favorite hobbies. You see, commuting on the subway back and forth to work everyday can get very boring, very fast. And social media just isn’t my favorite pastime, especially considering cell service is so iffy between subway stops. So I started bringing books on my commute, and wow, did that make such a difference! Suddenly my commutes would fly by, and I found that I would be in a better mood when I got to work/home at the end of the day, because the usual stressors of the subway didn’t get to me while I was nose-deep in a book.

Here are three books that I will definitely be reading this holiday season. Two of them are oldies but goodies that I highly, highly recommend. The other is a new book that was just released this year by one of my favorite authors! Let me know if you’ve read any of these, or what you’ll be reading this holiday season. I’d love to chat with you 🙂

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, & Lauren Myracle — this is the newbie book that I mentioned earlier. A quick synopsis of the book as told by Target: “In three intertwining short stories, several high school couples experience the trials and tribulations along with the joys of romance during a Christmas Eve snowstorm in a small town.” That doesn’t give you much, but it was enough for me to go order it. The book is under $10 and I love pretty much anything John Green has worked on. Add in the fact that it’s about three intertwining Christmas love stories, and you got me, ha! We’ll see how this one turns out, but I’ve also heard that they’ve already started on the major motion picture of this book so I’d say that’s probably a good sign!

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas Treasury has been one of my all-time favorite holiday books for as long as I can remember! You know the old Chicken Soup for the Soul books? Yeah this one is super old, but still SO GOOD. It’s filled with short stories and poems about Christmas miracles, struggles, love, and loss. It’ll make you cry; it’ll make you laugh; and it’ll make your heart so warm with the spirit of Christmas. I can’t even stress how perfect this book is! “Chicken soup for the soul” has never been a more accurate title.

Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J.K. Rowling — Look, it’s no secret that Harry Potter is my favorite series EVER. But it’s also the perfect book to read during the winter time because with all of that time indoors, you have plenty of time to read all the books without feeling guilty that you haven’t gone outside all weekend long, ha! Plus, for those who don’t know, Freeform will definitely be having at least one more #HPweekend this month before the year is out. They’ve sold the rights to the franchise to NBC, meaning that starting in 2018, Freeform will no longer be able to air the movies (I know, I’m crying too). So this is the perfect time to re-read the books and bask in all the HP marathons during the holiday break before the new year!

I hope you guys enjoyed my holiday reading list and will join me in reading some of these books this holiday season! If so, definitely let me know in the comments below, or on Facebook or Instagram where you can find me pretty much everyday 🙂 Happy Monday, loves!

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