40 Wonderfully Cozy (And Creepy) Christmas Books To Read In December (Or July)

We’re kicking this list off with a creepy collection of Christmas monsters around the world. There are thirteen tales featuring Krampus, Belsnickle, Hans Trapp, Baba Yaga, Santka Lucia, and more.

Georgie has been waiting to play Clara in The Nutcracker ballet her whole life and when she finally does, it’s a literal dream come true.

Every time she dances with the Nutcracker doll, she leaves the ballet studio and the world around her becomes larger than life. It’s so magical, she can’t wait to return again and again.

Soon the magic seeps into the real world and puts her friends in danger. Everything is falling apart and it’s almost Christmas. Now Georgie has to save her friends, the nutcracker, and herself.

Here’s a fun Christmas book that’s taking Santa to Louisiana, dressing him up in muskrat, piling his skiff with toys, and hitching it up to eight flying alligators instead of reindeer.

This is a fun and super short read for the holidays.

Five years ago on Christmas Eve, Holly was visited by three ghosts who tried to show her how selfish and spoiled she would be come. They tried to convince her to change her ways, but she didn’t and she died.

Now she’s stuck as the latest ghost of Christmas Past at Project Scrooge. Every year they save another miserly grouch. Every year she stays seventeen while her family and friends move on. Her afterlife has been miserable.

But everything is going to change this year.

For Christmas Eve of 1914, Jane Austen has been invited to The Vyne, the home of the prominent Chute family, to spend the evening with her friends and family.

The year fades and they begin to gather for the twelve days of Christmas festivities. Everyone is in a cheery mood, but Jane discovers the holiday cheer is fleeting.

One of the revelers dies in a tragic accident that she thinks is suspicious. If it wasn’t an accident, like she thinks, that means the murderer was one of her fellow snowbound guests.

Rosie Hopkins is looking forward to a Christmas buried in snow in the little Derbyshire village of Lipton. Her sweetshop is full of Turkish Delight, candy canes, and more. She’ll spend the holidays with her boyfriend Stephen and her family who is flying in from Australia and she can’t wait.

All of her plans for the future are blown apart when tragedy strikes at the heart of their small community and she has to figure out if what’s best for the sweetshop is what’s best for her. Can she still build a life in Lipton?

Cleo has been running The Little Knitting Box for four years since she got to New York City from the Cotswolds, but it’s been in the family for nearly four decades. But instead of an early Christmas card, she gets a letter that turns her world upside down.

Dylan is a stay-at-home dad who has had a rough few years after his marriage broke down and his mother died. All he wants is to give his kids the Christmas they want and the stability they need. After he meets Cleo at a party one night, he realizes it’s not so easy to pick up the pieces, especially when your ex is determined to win you back.

As the snow starts to fall in the city, they both realize life is rarely black and white and that they both have decisions to make.

Lou battles the clock everyday and has to be at two places at the same time. He always had two things to do at once. On his way to work one day he meets a homeless man, Gabe, and finds out he could be useful to have around so he gets him a job in the post room.

Soon he starts to regret this and is seeing Gabe in two places at once. As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time, sees what is truly important in life, and learns the harshest lesson of all.

If you want a Christmas book but don’t want to feel like you’re in the frozen tundra, this is for you.

Summer is headed to the Keys for winter break for a fun-in-the-sun holiday, but that’s not going as planned. All Summer can think about is her ex-boyfriend Austin and she can’t stand seeing him at the beach with his new girlfriend.

Now he’s everywhere she goes and she is constantly reminded of how much fun they had, how gorgeous he is, and what she really wants is what she can’t have.

On Primrose Hill, promises are made and broken. Christmas just serves as a reminder of the life Nettie used to have. One day she made a promise to never leave home and she has stayed true to that.

She gets caught up in the glaring spotlight of the world’s media where her exploits have made her a global name and attracted the attention of one of the world’s most eligible men – front man Jamie Westlake. Now that she has his attention, does she want to keep it?

Here’s another cozy Christmas book with a Grinch main character. Becca has always hated Christmas and has her reasons for being a Grinch, but she can’t avoid the holiday season this year as she’s traveling to spend it with her sister Laura and her family at the Comfort Food Cafe.

She’s expecting mulled wine, 24/7 Christmas movies, and all kinds of merry torture, but what she gets is a place perched on a hill, full of friendship where broken hearts can heal and new love can blossom.

It’s Christmastime in Pleasant Hollow, a place with horse drawn sleighs and gingerbread cottages with snow covered roofs. The kids jokingly call it Cratchitville because Mr. Cratchit owns half the town. But there are bigger issues here, like why is it always Christmastime and why don’t any of the adults know what goes on on the next hill over?

This is a charming Christmas story with a dark secret.

Nathan Wyler’s wife, Emily, tragically died in a car accident in December and his world collapsed around him and he alienated himself from everyone he loves. Things get worse when Xavier, Emily father, blames Nathan for her death.

Over the years, Stefan, Nathan’s son, is denied contact with his grandparents and starved of his father’s affections which causes him to get close to a substitute teacher, Kate. She goes to meet Nathan at work expecting a tempestuous meeting but instead finds a grief stricken father and they both see a mutual attraction.

Nathan is calmed by this mysterious young woman who helps bring their family back together over Christmas when the family starts to think she may not be who she says, but who is she and why is she so familiar to Nathan?

If you want a Christmas anthology, check this one out. I won’t lie, I’m not sure what the stories are about because this is the Good Reads description:

“Glittering white snowflakes. The handsome blond ski instructor. The sparkle on a cashmere skirt. Hot cocoa and kisses in front of a crackling fire.”

There are three stories in this Christmas book. The first has Melanie feeling cheated by the birth of her new baby sister at Christmastime who lives only a few days. Melanie learns the lasting value of love.

In the second story, Brenda struggles between noble intentions and real desires as she becomes the last chance at happiness for a dying boy.

Finally, Kathy has it all and is a live-in caregiver for a couple’s baby boy but not everything is what it seems and Kathy may have to give up the person she loves the most.

Charlotte knows exactly what she wants for Christmas: Teo Ortiz, the school’s star athlete, in the National Honor Society, invited to every party, contributes to the school paper where she is co-editor, and is about to be featured as One to Watch in a teen magazine. There’s only one problem, he barely knows she exists.

Charlie is determined to be his date to the Christmas ball and she has a plan. She’s going to rig the papers secret Santa so she can win him over with the five perfect gifts. To do this, she needs Teo’s cousins help, but he’s pretty much the most annoying person on the planet, but if she wants his help, she’s stuck with him.

As they spend more time together, she starts to wonder if she really knows who she wants for Christmas.

After attempting to destroy Christmas again, Jack Frost is about to lose everything: his job and his immortality, but he’s given one more chance at redemption.

This last chance lands him in the North pole the week before Christmas to help Santa prepare for the busiest night of the year. While there, he is deemed ‘tour guide” to show Santa’s granddaughter, Clara, the sights of the North Pole.

Jack’s time is running out as Christmas approaches and he finds himself growing fond of Clara who tries to show him the real meaning of Christmas, but he hatches one last plan to destroy Christmas and it involves Clara. It may prove fatal to her and the North Pole unless she can thaw his icy heart in time.

Luther and Nora Crank are planning to just skip Christmas this year: no cheesy parties, no fruitcake, no unwanted presents. They’ll be the only house on the block without decorations, they won’t be hosting a Christmas Eve Party, they won’t even have a tree. Instead, they’re setting off on a Caribbean Cruise on December 25, but they’re about to find out skipping Christmas isn’t as easy as they imagined and comes with huge consequences.

Noelle is a hopeless romantic and just knows her gifts have to be from her senior crush while Froggy thinks this is the perfect way to get super popular Celia to fall for him, but she thinks her gifts are from Jake, the resident bad boy, and starts to crush on him.

Dash and Lily have had a tough year since they fell in love. Her grandfather had a heart attack and Dash’s road to recovery has taken a toll on her normally sunny disposition.

With only twelve days until Lily’s favorite time of year, Christmas, Dash, Lily’s brother Langston, and their closest friends must take Manhattan by storm to help Lily recapture the holiday magic.

Kate Turner is about ready o say Bah Humbug to relationships since the sleepy town of Blexford, England isn’t really brimming with prospects. She’s found fulfillment in her career as a designer and baking in her old friend Matt’s neighborhood cafe.

Her best friend signs her up for a dating service that promises to find love before the holidays. With twenty-three days until Christmas and twelve dates it’s bound to work out but with each new date going worse than the last, she starts to realize maybe love has been right under her nose all along.

This is a Christmas Horror anthology with eighteen stories from bestselling authors. There is darkness in the Yuletide season and A Christmas Carol is filled with unsettling scenes.

This is a non-traditional Christmas book with no romance to be found if you want a little something different.

Ashley never dreamed her holiday would include her hometown, a dog, or a firefighter but a mysterious charm bracelet predicted it all.

She’s supposed to be having the Christmas of her dreams, finally getting her own little velvet box from her boyfriend Jeremy on a romantic trip to Paris after working in a jewelry store for years.

Instead, she goes home to Owl Lake, falling asleep on the train there, waking up with a mysterious antique charm bracelet on her wrist. Soon she realizes each charm predicts an event that will happen in her life.

Anna has no idea her life is about to change beyond recognition when she becomes the companion to the owner of Wynthorpe Hall near Wynbridge.

Anna is a classic scrooge but finds herself quickly immersed in the eccentric house and when Jamie, the youngest son, unexpectedly arrives, her personal feelings are going all out to compromise her professional persona.

Jamie is struggling to come to terms with life back at the Fens and makes a pact with Anna. She has to help him fall back in love with Wynthorpe Hall and he must help her fall in love with Christmas.

Holly’s idea of a good time isn’t a Christmas cruise with her awful cousins. Then, when seasickness forces her into an open suite, she’s pepper-sprayed by a gourgeous guy called Nick.

When she goes to make an exit, she’s faced with a horde of screaming teenage fans because Nick happens to be Dominic Wyatt, the drummer for one of the hottest bands in America.

suddenly rumors are swirling and her face is all over the Internet, but the band can’t risk a scandal ruining their family friendly image so he convinces her to be his fake girlfriend for just two weeks. How bad could it really be?

Candycane Claus is the most popular girl at North Pole High. Her father is world-famous, after all.

Rudy Tutti is the new boy and he is hot chocolate but he hates everything Christmas.

They’re forced to work together on a school Christmas tree project and her world is turned upside down. The two North Star-crossed teens must contend with her overprotective father – Santa Claus – before Christmas is ruined!

Charles Dickens should be looking forward to Christmas but that’s hard to do when his last book, Martin Chusslewit, was a flop and his publishers have given him an ultimatum: write a Christmas book in a month or possibly lose everything. He has no choice but to grudgingly accept.

Just weeks before Christmas, the church hall that hosts the Christmas Boutique, an annual sale that supports the county food pantry, is damaged but a winter storm, but Sylvia is determined to save the fundraiser. She offers to hold the sale at her ancestral family estate and summer home to Elm Creek Quilt Camp, Elm Creek Manor.

Sylvia and the quilters begin to prepare everything but while they tirelessly prepare for the boutique to happen, it may take a holiday miracle to make is the success they want it to be.

Olivia’s charity has helped generations of families in need in Pine River, Washington, but this year might be the end of the road. The charity’s biggest donor has decided there will be no more money going to them thanks to their new CFO Guy Hightower who decided they don’t have enough money to share.

Her Christmas budget depends on his donations and she has put her life on hold to support her mission.

When Guy’s Maserati breaks down, he is relieved to be rescued by a pretty young woman who turns out to be Olivia.

Elizabeth has been trapped in a tangle of postpartum depression and grief and couldn’t quite find her way bad to her husband and their two kids. Then a car accident stole those memories away. When they returned, she reasoned that her family moved on without her.

Then, seven years later, her husband finds her in a nearby town and brings her home to the family she loves just in time for Christmas. It’s better than she imagined and they are drawn closer together.

The one thing Erika doesn’t want for Christmas is a vacation, but she is ordered to take time off and trades in her scrubs for a ski suit and heads to Wild River, Alaska.

Her friend Cassie runs a tour company with adventures for every visitor, but nothing beats the rush of being reunited with Cassie’s brother Reed.

Jessie Adams is a widow about to give birth but she needs help fast. Unfortunately the closest ranch in her small Texas town is her late husband’s brother and he doesn’t know anything about birthing babies.

While he is charismatic, he’s the last person she wanted to be stranded with in a time of need.

Harper Devlin’s rockstar husband left her on his way to the top so she took her two daughters to her sisters in Silver Springs for the holidays hoping to heal her broken heart.

She finds unexpected comfort in Tobias Richardson but he recognizes her sadness immediately. He spent thirteen years in prison paying for a regretful past but he is ready to make amends and this may be a good way to do that. However, after offering a shoulder to cry on there is a powerful attraction he didn’t see coming.

He is afraid to divulge his past and lose her but when her ex shows up in town he reveals the truth to try and win her back.

Tara Porter finds the holiday season emotionally challenging. Christmas reminds her of the family she lost while New Years Eve reminds her of the biggest mistake of her life: marrying Garth Tewkwsbury. She ignores invitations and seeks refuge in her flat with her bunny Hercules.

Professionally, though, it’s the best time of the year at The Chocolate Pot, her thriving cafe that is always packed. But when Jed Ferguson, her former nemesis, threatens the future of her cafe, she prepares for a fight, but might find love instead.

Everyone loves Christmas, especially Lizzy Kingham, but this year she isn’t feeling the love from her family. Present-buying, decorating, and food shopping have all been left to her, but what would happen if she ran away and left it all to them?

She heads to her favorite place, a beach hut in Everdene where she meets an unlikely collection of friends, all running from something, but the spirit of Christmas is getting under her skin.

Her family is desperate to find he since it really isn’t Christmas without her.

Eden Lancaster grew up on Hope Island and always believed that if you wished hard enough for something it would come true, but there’s one thing it isn’t working on so far. She has been totally in love with Dougie Harrison, her childhood friend, forever and he has no idea.

When he leaves his successful life in New York to return home for good, Eden can’t escape her feelings and she hopes her romantic dreams will finally come true.

The Candied Apple Cafe is ready for Christmas with snow falling and the smell of hot chocolate drifting down Fifth Avenue. Iona Summer has so much to do, she doesn’t have time to think about dating, men, or the fact that her last boyfriend left her for her brother.

Mads Eriksson is not looking forward to the first Christmas since losing his wife. His daughter, Sofia, has lost her belief in Christmas magic along with her mother and he has no idea what to do. But after and unusually festive meeting at the Candied Apple Cafe, and after meeting Iona, his life seems full of light again.

Rachel Mills is overworked and was just passed over for a huge promotion but she inherited an old bookstore in Marietta, Montana and decides to go see it and hopefully have her first white Christmas ever.

Atticus Bowen is a Texas lawyer and entrepreneur that just found the perfect location for his second restaurant: Marietta, Montana’s Main Street. All he has to do is convince the owner of Paradise Books to sell to him since they aren’t practical or viable businesses.

Rachel decides to pass on his offer, open the bookstore for December, and explore her options. she never expected to fall in love with the bookstore, Marietta, or handsome but arrogant Atticus Bowen.

Laurel discovers her estranged sister Abby checked herself into rehab and wants her to take care of her fourteen-year-old son. Laurel doesn’t hesitate to agree but wasn’t prepared for Zac’s sullen moods and silent rage. When he is expelled from school Laurel takes drastic measures and moves them temporarily to her great aunt’s cottage on the Orkney Islands of Scotland.

From the moment they arrive, everything seems to go wrong including running into Archie MacDougall, the eccentric sheep farmer. Laurel thinks things can only get worse when Archie saves Zac from trouble at the local pub and suggests he work on his farm which might just be the change Zac needs while Laurel strikes up a friendship with a man as far from fairytale as she imagined.

Lauren McCullough could use some good news as the holiday season begins. She and her husband have been hoping for a baby that seems like an impossible dream and they’ve had to move in with her grandmother, Helen, who can barely take care of herself, but no home-caregivers are available.

But then Mrs. Miracle shows up at their door and is nothing short of a godsend. Helen is even convinced she’s an angel. Laurel has to admit her grandmother is noticeably happier and signs are pointing to the arrival of a special baby, too.

Here is another Christmas horror collection telling the horrifying story of Serenity Falls, Wisconsin. One day at a time, the truth is revealed culminating in a dark secret bigger than anyone could imagine.

Hope and despair are doled out unequally as the town’s citizens discover the painful truth.