Book picks similar to
Thirty Days to Glory by Kathy Nickerson


first-reads
christian-fiction
fiction
book-club-suggestions

Mistletoe Between Friends / The Snowflake Inn


Samantha Chase - 2016
    Be prepared for a stubborn heroine who believes in fairy tales. Fortunately, common sense prevails, leading to a delightful reconciliation." -RT Book Reviews, 4 stars

Christmas at Holly Hill


Martha Rogers - 2012
    His family welcomes him, but the townspeople are skeptical. Bored with life in the small town but determined to make a new start, he goes to work with his father, hoping to regain the town’s trust.  Clayton recognizes the schoolteacher at the Prairie Grove School as his childhood friend, Merry Lee Warner, and old feelings surface. Still, he doubts that he could ever get a woman like Merry to love him. As the townspeople prepare for Christmas, their suspicions about Clayton lead to trouble. Will the trusting heart of an unlikely new friend be enough to restore Clayton’s relationships with his neighbors and reunite him with God and Merry?

The Adults


Caroline Hulse - 2018
    They can't agree on whose idea it was, or who said they should bring their new partners. But someone did - and it's too late to pull the plug.Claire brings her new boyfriend Patrick, a seemingly eligible Iron-Man-in-Waiting. Matt brings the new love of his life Alex, funny, smart, and extremely patient. Scarlett, their daughter, brings her imaginary friend Posey. He's a rabbit. Together the five (or six?) of them grit their teeth over Organized Fun activities, drinking a little too much after bed-time, oversharing classified secrets about their pasts and, before you know it, their holiday is a powder keg that ends - where this story starts - with a tearful, frightened, call to the police...But what happened? They said they'd all be adults about this...If you loved The Break by Marian Keyes or raved about The Rosie Project - look no further than The Adults.

When Broken Hearts Meet


Arushi Vats - 2018
    They become friends. Avanti is a conflicted girl, shattered in the tussle between her past and present and Suhaas is the typical prince charming who has two sides, one which he keeps to himself and the other which he shows to everyone. As their story proceeds ahead, both of them begin to feel affinity for each other. But deep in the realms of their hearts dwells chaos that occurs because of their past relationships. Avanti and Suhaas's friends make efforts to unite them as they know that they love each other. Eventually, it's up to Suhaas if he will confess his love or not but the important question arises here is, will Avanti find the courage to leave behind her tumultuous past and embrace her love story?

The Haunted Groom


Karly Stratford - 2018
    His Christmas plans include starting a foundation to help kids get out of his old neighborhood. However, quarterback Will Kent throws a wrench in Evan's plans with a bet. A bet for Evan to contact his first love, Anna Jordan, and try to win her back. To his surprise, Anna—now the hottest actress in Hollywood—agrees to help him with his foundation. Anna brings her feisty, ninja-like bodyguard along, and suddenly Evan has a problem. The beautiful and tough, Henley Keaton only wants a drama-free Christmas. When Evan Cook calls Henley's employer, to Milwaukee to help with some foundation, she's overjoyed. She can avoid the yearly family fight and eat deep-fried-cheese-curds and relax for Christmas. But when Anna gets sick and forces Henley to go on a date with Evan Cook in her place, Henley’s plan begins to crumble. When Henley and Evan engage in a spirited duel of Shakespeare quotes, things get...complicated. After tragedy strikes, and it looks like Evan's haunted past is going to catch up with him, he must decide if he's willing to walk away or let Christmas miracles come true.

The Sister Season


Jennifer Scott - 2013
    When the girls were young, holidays at their family farm meant a tinsel-garnished tree, the scent of simmering food, and laughter ringing through the house. But as the years unfolded, family bonds fractured, and the three sisters scattered and settled into separate lives. Until now. The Yancey sisters are coming to spend the holidays with their mother. They’re also coming to bury their father.Claire, the youngest, a free spirit who journeyed to California, returns first. Then comes Julia, the eldest, a college professor with a teenage son of her own. And finally there’s Maya, the middle child, who works so hard to be the perfect mother and wife. During the sisters’ week together, old conflicts surface, new secrets emerge, and the limits and definitions of family are tested. And as the longest night of the year slips by and brightening days beckon, the sisters will have to answer one question: When you’re a sister, aren’t you a sister forever?

Devotions for Christmas: A Celebration to Bring You Joy and Peace


Anonymous - 2016
    But even though we may understand the true reason for the season, far too few of us know how to celebrate Christmas as the time of peace that it is meant to be.With a rich, daily devotion for every day of December, Devotions for Christmas offers you a way to unplug and spend some time reconnecting with a childlike sense of wonder and joy at the mystery and blessings of Christmas. Settle in and enjoy peaceful and hope-inspired Devotions for Christmas.

Miracle on Regent Street


Ali Harris - 2011
    For the past two years, Evie has lived an invisible life in London. Her neighbours think she’s just moved in, her sister mistakes her for a live-in nanny, and even Evie’s manager at work can’t remember her name. But all that is about to change …this Christmas has brought a flurry of snow and unimaginable possibilities into town. Evie works in the stockroom of an old-fashioned, family-run, London fashion department store. Hardy’s is a beautiful, wood-panelled jewellery box of a building, but it’s in dire need of a makeover. One day Evie overhears that if the entire store’s takings don’t turn round by Dec 26th – 3 weeks’ time – the family who own it will be forced to sell to one of the big chains. Hardy’s is in need of a Christmas miracle. Determined to save her beloved store, Evie hatches a plan to secretly transform it into a magical place to shop again. But has the time come for her to be noticed too? When an accidental romantic encounter with handsome, enigmatic Joel gives her the chance of a whole new identity, she takes it.

Love Letters in the Sand


Diann Hunt - 2011
    Together they attempt to navigate the shifting sands of their relationship as painful truths come to light. Will Julia ultimately discover that, though the tide washed away their once-upon-a-time love letters in the sand, she and Stefan have a love that will be forever written upon their hearts?

Two from Galilee: The Story of Mary and Joseph


Marjorie Holmes - 1972
    Here are Mary and Joseph--a teenage girl and a young carpenter--alone, frightened, in love, faced with family conflict, a hostile world and an awesome responsibility. It is a story for young and old alike; for everyone who finds the Christmas tale a source of timeless beauty and wonder, a compassionate, emotional novel of divine love.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses


Lloyd C. Douglas - 1932
     With the quizzical grimace of long-neglected astigmatism she adjusted the steel-bowed spectacles that had been her mother's, had of a notion peddler for two dozen eggs and a pound of butter. The wooden-wheeled clock—a noisy but amazingly accurate and exquisitely ornamented product of old Ferd's, while laid up one winter with a broken leg that had kept him two months sober—clacked irascibly at Martha that another blistering August morning was nearly five hours old.

Eyes Wide Open


Ted Dekker - 2013
    I’m seventeen and I’m about to die. I’m buried in a coffin under tons of concrete. No one knows where I am. My heart sounds like a monster with clobber feet, running straight toward me. I’m lying on my back, soaked with sweat from the hair on my head to the soles of my feet. My hands and feet won’t stop shaking.Some will say that I’m not really here. Some will say I’m delusional. Some will say that I don’t even exist. But who are they? I’m the one buried in a grave.My name is Christy Snow. I’m seventeen. I’m about to die.So who are you?In a return to the kind of storytelling that made Showdown and Three unforgettable, Ted Dekker drags that question into the light with this modern day parable about how we see ourselves.Humming with intensity and blindsided twists, Eyes Wide Open is raw adrenaline from the first page to the last pure escapism packed with inescapable truth. Not all is as it seems. Or is it? Strap yourself in for the ride of your life. Literally.

Seeds of Hope


Barbara Cameron - 2017
    Can love bring them together?Miriam Troyer has had a secret crush on Mark Byler since they were teenagers. She knows they can never have a relationship: Mark is a big-city attorney—an Englischer—and Miriam loves her quiet way of life in her Amish community. But when Mark unexpectedly shows up in Paradise, Pennsylvania, Miriam realizes it’s going to get a lot harder to hide her feelings. Even though Mark always loved visiting his grandfather’s farm as a boy, he’s convinced the Amish life is not for him. But when he suddenly finds himself out of a job and without direction, Mark heads back to the farm just in time to help with the harvest. Coming for a visit and coming to stay, however, are two very different things. Everything changes when Mark sees that Miriam, the girl he remembers from his youth, has grown into the kind of faith-filled woman he wants in his future. Could life in this simple world be right for Mark after all? Has Miriam finally found her happily ever after? True love sprouts from seeds of hope.

Unseen


James H. Pence - 2001
    Asked to pick up a "package" at the airport by an old friend he barely remembers, Thomas is shocked when he finds two desperate children looking to him for help. As he’s reluctantly drawn into the murderous plot of a ruthless cult, Thomas is forced to come face-to-face with his own torturous guilt over the tragic loss of his family and faith. Why does the cult so desperately want the kids? Their mother, Justine Bishop, holds the key. He just has to find her . . . or die trying.Previously published under the title "Blind Sight".

The Christmas Contest


Theresa Sederholt - 2021
    Hopefully, the enticement of winning his house and the magic of the holidays will lure in just the right person! Holly Kirby was a bit shocked when she read the ad. The winner of the Christmas contest would receive a house! Knowing this might be some sort of scam, she still can’t help but imagine all the wonderful things she could do with a beautiful house on Nantucket. Holly decides to go ahead and enter, hoping that the Christmas angels will bring her a miracle. Jack Anderson immediately knew something was wrong with his grandfather after reading the ad for the Christmas contest. Maybe it was time to take a break from work and pay him a visit. Somebody has to talk some sense into him! Only, when he gets there, he realizes Grandpa’s plan is already in full swing. The clock is ticking but can Jack stop it in time, or will his family home be lost to him forever?