As the holiday season rolls around, there’s nothing quite like cozying up with a warm drink and a book that celebrates love in all its forms. This year, LGBTQ holiday books bring a special kind of romance and magic to the season, with stories full of heart, humor, and the joy of finding connection. Whether you’re looking for a festive fling, a slow-burn romance, or heartwarming tales of family and friendship, these 2024 releases deliver all the warmth and sparkle you’d want in a holiday romance. Here’s book recommendations to make your season even brighter.
6 LGBTQ Holiday Books:
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy – Sierra Simone
USA Today bestseller!
Cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone–a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star she falls in love with.
“The charming holiday romp you absolutely need in your life!” —Tessa Bailey
Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.
Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhile when she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.
The Nightmare Before Kissmas: A Royals and Romance Novel by Sara Raasch
AN INSTANT USA TODAY AND INDIE BESTSELLER!
Featuring beautiful ruby sprayed edges!
Red, White & Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas in a sexy, quirky rom-com where the golden-hearted Prince of Christmas falls for the totally off-limits Prince of Halloween.
Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR façade. Coal will do anything to escape the spectacle, including getting tangled in a drunken, supremely hot make-out session with a beautiful man behind a seedy bar one night.
But the heir to Christmas is soon commanded to do his duty: he will marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter Princess and his brother’s not-so-secret crush. A situation that has disaster written all over it.
Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand…and Coal comes face-to-face with his mysterious behind-the-bar hottie: Hex, the Prince of Halloween.
It’s a fake competition between two holiday princes who can’t keep their hands off each other over a marriage of convenience that no one wants. And it all leads to one of the sweetest, sexiest, messiest, most delightfully unforgettable love stories of the year.
This Christmas by Georgia Beers
It’s Christmastime and everyone is in the holiday spirit at no-kill animal shelter Junebug Farms.
When Junebug sponsors the annual Christmas parade to raise money and awareness for their shelter, the staff have a plan: the king and queen of the parade will spend the holidays filming adorable Christmas vignettes to bring in donations and find forever homes for lovable pups before Santa comes.
What they don’t know is that Mia Sorenson, volunteer dog walker and superior matchmaker, is about to rig the voting so that her granddaughter, Samantha, and Sam’s friend Keegan, win queen and queen of the parade. Sam and Keegan have been dancing around each other for years, and if Mia doesn’t do something, they might never realize they’re meant to be together. But can Sam and Keegan ever forget the Big Embarrassing Thing that makes romance a nope?
It’ll be all paws on deck to bring them a miracle and make this Christmas one to remember.
The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky
The Santa Clause meets Husband Material in this delightful holiday novel!
Patrick Hargrave and Quinn Muller have been married for less than a year, but their passionate romance is cracking under the pressures of domestic life and a cumbersome mortgage. That’s until Christmas Eve when Patrick wakes Quinn up with: “I think I’ve killed a man.”
Quinn realizes the “burglar” Patrick knocked out is none other than Mr. Claus himself. Instructed by a harried elf to don the red suit and take the reins of the reindeer-guided sleigh up on the roof, Quinn and Patrick work together to save Christmas.
But as the sun rises on Christmas morning, the sleigh brings them back to the North Pole instead of New Jersey, and they’re in for a massive shock. The couple must assume the roles of Santa Claus and the first ever Merriest Mister or Christmas will be over… permanently.
Flopping in a Winter Wonderland by Jason June
Sparks are flying in Winter Wonderland this Christmas in this LGBTQ+ young adult rom-com from Jason June, New York Times bestselling author of Out of the Blue, Jay’s Gay Agenda, and Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball!
All Aaron wants for Christmas is for his brother, Casey, to get over his ex, Raquel. He’d prefer not to be at Winter Wonderland, the island north of Alaska that’s home to a year-round Christmas theme park. But Casey loves Christmas, so here they are. Unfortunately for Aaron, Casey’s determined to do anything to win Raquel back.
All Kris wants for Christmas is for his uncle to move back to Winter Wonderland to be the first gay Santa. To make that happen Kris needs to win the Race, his grade’s annual competition to see who can get a guest to fall in love with them first. Winning means a trip to New York, where Kris would be able to plead his uncle’s case to the founder of Winter Wonderland himself.
I’ll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia K Boone
For fans of The Holiday comes a heartwarming Christmas house-swap rom-com debut in which finding yourself and finding love come hand in hand.
Bee Tyler needs a break. In the bustling San Francisco tech community, no one ever seems to stand still–especially her perfect sister and business partner, Beth. So when her best friend suggests a getaway on the wildly popular house-swap app, Vacate, Bee decides a countryside retreat might be exactly what she needs.
Clover Mills has had a year. Between losing her mother and making the complicated decision to leave her fiancé, sticking around the idyllic Christmas obsessed town of Salem, Ohio, just doesn’t feel right. So when she hears about Vacate, she jumps at the chance to spend the holidays in the unfamiliar city of San Francisco.
Soon enough, Bee is living in Clover’s cozy Salem cottage, and Clover is living in Bee’s sleek San Francisco apartment. As Clover can’t seem to stop running into Bee’s frustratingly gorgeous sister, Beth, and Bee finds herself spending more and more time with Clover’s ultra charming ex-fiancé, Knox, the two women realize that this Christmas they may find just what they were looking for and more…
