Best Books for Your Holiday Reading
15 Best Books of the Holiday Season
Get your reading in as you cozy up by the fire this holiday season! If you want something romantic, lighthearted, thrilling, or moving, we’ve got you covered with 15 incredible books you should definitely add to your holiday reading list.
Your Chance to Win All 15 Books!
We've teamed up with our friends @booksparks to bring you a holiday reading list chock-full of female authors and your chance to win ALL 15 BOOKS These will take you from the ski slope to the fireside all before the new year arrives! Keep them all for your own enjoyment, or stuff into stockings!
Check out our post on Instagram @TheHivery for your chance to win all of these books! Or, simply peruse the list and descriptions below for your favorite bookworm’s stocking stuffer!
One lucky winner will receive:
15 books from @booksparks holiday reading list
A 3-month membership to The Hivery, our global community of creative entrepreneurs committed to creating meaningful work
Hivery-style Hydroflask
HOW TO ENTER TO WIN - 3 Easy Steps
1) LIKE this post
2) FOLLOW @thehivery and @booksparks
3) TAG one friend (or more!) in the comments below who you'd love to share book recs with.
Bonus: SHARE this post on your story for an extra entry! Don't forget to tag @thehivery and @booksparks
We'll announce the winner via an IG story and a private message on the morning of Mon. Dec. 19th.
PS: Giveaway begins Thurs. Dec. 15th at 10am PT and ends on Sun. Dec. 18th at 11:59 pm PT. Let's get reading, y'all. Nothing says happy holidays like a great book. See additional rules on our IG post. GOOD LUCK!
Read More About Your 15 Holiday Must-Reads Below!
The Sunshine Girls by Molly Fader
Smalltown BettyKay and cosmopolitan Kitty couldn’t have less in common. But as nursing school roommates in 1967 Iowa, they forge an unlikely friendship as they fight to prove themselves on a campus unkind to women. Even after a tragedy forces them apart at the end of their first year, the women maintain a decades-long friendship that lasts through every milestone—until one snowy night changes everything. Fifty years later, two estranged sisters are shocked when a movie star shows up at their mother’s funeral and shares a dazzling truth that is bound to change their lives forever. Watch out for this story of an extraordinary friendship and the power of a mother’s love coming December 6th!
The thing that finally reunites the four Fox siblings is not their father on his deathbed but the hefty inheritance he is leaving behind. Oldest daughter Valerie hopes this will be an amicable reunion between herself, Lucy, Christian and Jeremy, but is quickly proven wrong after a suspicious accident. After all, their father raised them to be competitors, and fewer siblings means a bigger share. Valerie quickly learns the worst is yet to come and trusting the wrong person could be deadly. Watch out for this gripping psychological suspense coming December 13th!
Jody Asher and her political icon husband, Martin, were the golden couple on the Hill for fifteen congressional terms. Their perfect life and reputation suddenly go sideways when a reporter threatens to expose Martin’s affair with a young staffer. Jody isn’t as concerned with the affair itself, but this is a scandal that will ruin everything she worked so hard to build. When Martin suddenly dies, it’s time for Jody to take control. But as the reporter refuses to give up his lead and the balance of power is shifting in the Asher home, Jody will do anything to secure her future.
A Cigarette Lit Backwards by Tea Hacic-Vlahovic
Kat wants nothing more than to be accepted by the North Carolina punks. She gets one step closer to her dream when she ends up backstage at a punk show with a rock star and gets noticed by a photojournalist. Kat’s reputation skyrockets, and to maintain her newfound fame, she makes decisions that soon make her unrecognizable to herself and others. Set in the punk-rock scene of the early 2000s, this story follows a young woman on her journey to self-discovery and acceptance.
Such a Pretty Girl by T. Greenwood
Ryan Flannigan’s peaceful life in Vermont is interrupted when a controversial photo of her as a pre-teen is found in the hands of a wealthy investor recently revealed as a pedophile and sex trafficker. To make matters worse, there is an inscription to him from Ryan’s mother, Fiona, on the back. With Ryan and Fiona now the objects of uncomfortable speculation, Ryan is brought back to her childhood in 1970s New York when her mother moved them to the West Village to chase her acting dreams. Instead of Fiona, Ryan was the one discovered and thrust into the spotlight, quickly replacing her childhood with auditions, paparazzi, and unwanted attention from men of all ages. As Ryan begins to untangle her young fears and her mother’s ambitions, she is forced to face the painful truth of their relationship to put the past to rest.
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
In a society where everyone is governed by laws written to preserve "American culture," authorities are allowed to relocate children of dissidents (especially those of Asian origin), and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic, twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet life with his father. His mother, Margaret, left the family when Bird was nine years old and was a Chinese American poet whose works were part of those deemed unpatriotic. Bird has grown up not acknowledging his mother, her work, or what happened to her. But when he receives a mysterious letter with a cryptic drawing, he embarks on a quest to find her, taking him on a journey where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.
A Brighter Flame by Christine Nolfi
When Vale Lightner’s Pittsburgh bar burns down, she is forced to return to her hometown of Philadelphia. Returning home means facing the past she escaped and everything she left behind, including her mother, stepfather, and half-sister, Blythe. As this reunited family racked with secrets is about to reach their crisis point, Val, Blythe, and their mother look for a chance of closure, newfound love, and forgiveness. They are all forced to reassess their past and look for the truth that could finally bring them together forever.
Fiona is an art student at a New Jersey college struggling to find herself through the harsh realities of war for Americans in their early twenties. Her best friend, Melissa, is in a dead-end relationship and pregnant. After Melissa’s abortion, the two girls travel to Florida, where they are introduced to tarot cards and the anti-war movement. After returning from Florida, Fiona begins dating Reuben, a journalism major and political activist who decides to move to Canada to avoid the draft. With the offer to accompany him, Fiona starts to wonder if this is the life she really wants. Caught between her feelings for Reuben and her own aspirations, Fiona sets out to define herself, her artistic career, and her future. Watch out for this historical, coming-of-age story coming November 15th!
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Yasmen and Josiah Wade were devastated to find that their love couldn’t save everything, let alone their marriage. Finally finding a new rhythm since the split, Yasmen and Josiah are successfully co-parenting their two kids and running a business together. But they soon find themselves wondering if they can truly let go of what they had, leading to one stolen kiss after another that eventually reopens old wounds. The two are forced to decide whether it’s too late for them or if they could be even better the second time around. Watch out for this love story of hope and healing coming out November 15th!
Art historian Cate Adamson leaves the Midwest to complete her doctorate in New York, only to find herself assigned to a difficult and sexist advisor. She tries endlessly to impress him until she comes across a hidden painting. Risking everything, Cate flees to Spain with the painting to consult art experts, meeting Antonio, an impoverished duke, on the way. The two join forces, discovering shocking clues and evidence that may destroy her future as an art historian and her future with Antonio.
Life is unpredictable and unexpected. Change can change its mind, and it is essential, now more than ever, to keep perspective and remember that our life is what we create. A positive mindset is more effective than you think and can help us become happier and healthier and add value to our entire lives while we navigate those curveballs it throws at us. Enright creates a uniquely inspiring and humorous approach to overcoming adversity and living your best life to help readers look on the bright side—no matter the situation.
Promenade of Desire by Isidra Mencos
María Isidra grew up a proper Catholic girl in 1960s Spain, experiencing early sexual trauma and fear that kept her in line and forced her to lead a double life. As Spain gave way to democracy and a cultural revolution after the dictator’s death in 1975, Isidra dove into activism, communal living, literature, counterculture, open sexuality, and alcohol. To reconnect with her body, she found a home in a rundown salsa club where the lush rhythm sparked healing. This set her off on a series of sexual and romantic misadventures in search of what she had always found painfully elusive: true intimacy. In this memoir, Isidra Mencos reveals her journey from the life of a woman once contained to one who finds a way to set herself free.
Amelia Zachry is a bicultural child of a Malay mother and an Indian father. She was 19 years old when a fellow student from her Kuala Lumpur university sexually assaulted her. Amelia was deeply affected by that night, convinced it was her fault, and spiraling into isolation and then promiscuity, attempting to take back some of the power that had been ripped away. She eventually met Daniel, the man who would become her husband and greatest advocate. In her late twenties, Amelia was diagnosed with PTSD and bipolar II disorder that would shape her life as an individual, a wife, and a mother. This memoir of trauma and healing tells Amelia Zachry’s story of learning to make peace with the fact that things are as they should be and of discovering that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how far away it may seem.
Someday Mija, You’ll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman by Yvonne Martinez
Yvonne Martinez was 18 years old when she fled brutal domestic violence and moved in with her dying grandmother, who used to be a sex worker. Before she died, her grandmother left Yvonne with many family secrets and pieces of wisdom, one being, "Someday, Mija, you'll learn the difference between a whore and a working woman." Yvonne also discovered that her grandmother was trafficked as a child in Depression-era Utah by her mother, Yvonne's great-grandmother, and that she was blamed for her own rape. In the following years, Yvonne gets an education, starts a family, and heals from her own abuse by her mother and stepfather, leading her to become an advocate and labor activist. She hangs on to her grandmother's advice as she learns to fight for herself and teaches others to do the same. In this memoir, Yvonne Martinez shares her journey of transforming transgenerational trauma into resilience and post-traumatic growth.
More Than You Can See by Barbara Rubin
Barbara Rubin's daughter, Jenn, had a terrible car accident at seventeen that sent her into a two-week coma with a traumatic brain injury. When Jenn awakens, it is soon apparent that she now lacks any traditional communication method and cannot speak or function on her own. As Jenn relearns basic life skills, Barbara and her family attempt to overcome this forever change and piece their lives back together. Barbara and her husband soon discover they cannot care for Jenn themselves and are forced to move her to a group home. Over time, with her caregivers' support, Jenn is able to reenter the community. Despite her disability, Jenn connects with everyone in her life, showing that her lack of language doesn't stop her from having a voice. In this memoir, Barbara Rubin shares her story of moving beyond tragedy and discovering profound and fulfilling life lessons waiting for her on the other side.
This list is brought to you in collaboration with @BookSparks.
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