There is something so divine about curling up with a good book, leaving the stress of the day behind you, and focusing on what’s currently at hand. I adore reading so much that I thought it only fitting in ‘Claire’s Current Reads’ I share with you what I am loving lately, and what I have next on my never-ending list to read.
Enjoy!
Christmas is coming and I am excited for all the traditions that come with it. The holiday season is always the perfect time to sit back, take in the last year that is sure to have some how flown by, and spend the surely fleeting remainder of the year with all you love. One tradition I have is reading a book that is set around the holidays and I always like to pair it with my favorite Christmas movies that I watch each year (insert introvert issues here). We are getting ready for our upcoming trip to NYC and I will definitely be bringing these beauties along to read. I am happy to share my past, present, and future Christmas reads for this holiday season with you and I hope you love them as much I am.
Past:
Christmas in London – This was a great read to start the Christmas season. With the recent royal engagement, it made this book even better with the location set in London. This light hearted romantic Christmas read will have you wanting it to never end and have you wishing you were sipping tea at Claridge’s.
Synopsis:
“Set during London’s most festive time of year and filled with delicious food Anita Hughes’ Christmas in London is about love and friendship, and the season’s most important lesson: learning how to ask for and give forgiveness.
It’s a week before Christmas and Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn’t know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren’t hers to sell. But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day; so she agrees.
The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge’s. It’s a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa’s famous baking idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than her food.
And then there’s Kate, the show’s beautiful producer. On their first day in London she runs into the skinny boy she jilted at St. Andrew’s in Scotland ten years ago. Now he’s a handsome, brilliant mathematician, and newly divorced. Their familiar spark is still there, but so is the scar of how they left things. Kate and Louisa are busy preparing for the show, but old and new flames are complicating their work.”
Present:
Christmas in Paris – The same author of my “past” pick gives us another Christmas read that is set in my favorite European city, Paris! I found this once I started reading Christmas in London and I am excited to dive into it. If it makes me feel as warm and cozy as her other book, it will be the perfect read on our upcoming trip and to lead me into Christmas.
Synopsis:
“Anita Hughes’s Christmas in Paris is a moving and heartwarming story about love, trust, and self-discovery. Set during the most magical week of the year, the glorious foods and fashions of the most romantic city in the world are sure to take your breath away.
Isabel Lawson is standing on the balcony of her suite at the Hotel de Crillon as she gazes at the twinkling lights of the Champs-Élysées and wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake. She was supposed to be visiting the Christmas tree in the Place de la Concorde, and eating escargots and macaroons with her new husband on their honeymoon. But a week before the wedding, she called it off. Isabel is an ambitious Philadelphia finance woman, and Neil suddenly decided to take over his grandparents’ farm. Isabel wasn’t ready to trade her briefcase for a pair of rubber boots and a saddle.
When Neil suggested she use their honeymoon tickets for herself, she thought it would give her a chance to clear her head. That is until she locks herself out on the balcony in the middle of winter. Thankfully her neighbor Alec, a French children’s illustrator, comes to her rescue. He too is nursing a broken heart at the Crillon for the holidays. With a new friend by her side, Isabel is determined to use her time in the “city of lights” wisely. After a chance encounter with a fortune teller, and a close call with a taxi, she starts to question everything she thought was important.”
Future:
The Look of Love – I luckily found this in the sale section of Barnes and Noble and can’t wait to read it. Anything that involves Christmas, blizzards, and love is just what I crave to read this time of year.
Synopsis:
“Born during a Christmas blizzard, Jane Williams receives a rare gift: the ability to see true love. Jane has emerged from an ailing childhood a lonely, hopeless romantic when, on her twenty-ninth birthday, a mysterious greeting card arrives, specifying that Jane must identify the six types of love before the full moon following her thirtieth birthday, or face grave consequences. When Jane falls for a science writer who doesn’t believe in love, she fears that her fate is sealed.”
Enjoy my Christmas reading list and take in every moment of the holiday season.
XO
Claire B.
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