Book picks similar to
The Best Gift by Wendy Markham


time-travel
romance
christmas
fiction

Moonshine & Murder


Kathleen Brooks - 2019
    Leaving her life up to fate, Zoey closed her eyes and pointed. She would serve out her career exile in the small mountain town of Moonshine Hollow where moonshine flowed as freely as a mountain stream. Giving up the law to become a baker in Moonshine Hollow turned out to be the best thing Zoey had ever done. She was happy and enjoying life in her new small town. But Zoey should have learned the first time . . . one night can change your whole life. After unknowingly crashing a battle between witches, Zoey accidentally becomes a witch herself. That’s all before Zoey stumbles over a murder victim and the town’s sheriff becomes involved. Now she’s trying to find a murderer, stop two old witches from playing matchmaker, and learning she’s way more than a mere accidental witch. And that’s all before fate turns up one more sexy hunk of a twist . . .

I Take Thee to Deceive


Tamra Lassiter - 2013
    Sophie Taylor thinks she's hit rock bottom. Her husband of three months passed away unexpectedly and her best friend Eliza disappeared without a trace. Things are bad enough until she finds out the truth-her "husband" is actually a CIA agent who married her only to further his own career and Eliza isn't missing at all. She's in prison for charges of distributing a new "gourmet" drug with deadly side effects. Motivated to get her friend released, Sophie joins forces with CIA Agent Nate MacAlister, her "husband's" best friend to find who's really behind the drug ring. Is Nate who he says he is and can Sophie trust him to help her find the truth?

Wrecking Christmas


Liza Jonathan - 2019
     The perfect Christmas. After the tragic loss of her mother, it’s all psychologist Kathryn Winslow wants for herself, her young son, and her grieving father. She never expects their drive to a luxury resort to end with her car dangling off the side of a mountaintop cliff. And she certainly doesn’t expect her family to be rescued by a sexy, rugged puzzle of a man like Hunter Holliday. As owner of a collision repair and hot rod shop in the West Virginia hills, Hunter hauls motorists out of snow banks every day. But after years of sleepwalking through his life as a widower, saving a brave, beautiful woman like Kathryn wakes him up, in every possible way. But before they can make it out of a freak snowstorm, they’re stranded in Christmas Pass, a funny little sugar-frosted mountain town that can’t be found on any map. Now somehow, they’re trapped in an enchanted village that grants Christmas wishes, and tangled in a red-hot attraction they can’t resist. Yet, even in a place that’s populating itself around their craziest whims and deepest desires, they can’t run from the crippling regrets in their past—or the shocking new revelations to come. But the love they need so badly is there for the taking…if only they have the courage to wish…

Charming the Highlander


Janet Chapman - 2003
    When a plane crash strands brilliant scientist Grace Sutter on an icy mountaintop in Maine, she finds herself alone in the wilderness with the only other surviving passenger -- Greylen MacKeage, a sexy, medieval warrior who's been tossed through time to find the woman he's destined to love. Forced together to survive the harsh, wintry landscape, neither expects the fierce passion that flares between them. But Grace is not used to letting her heart take control, and Greylen will settle for nothing less than her heart's surrender....

Firefly Beach


Meira Pentermann - 2009
    A mysterious ball of light disturbs her peace and leads her to a secret beach where she finds the diary of a girl who disappeared in 1975. Now Beth is on a mission, not only to bury her own past, but to put to rest the spirit of Firefly Beach. See also Firefly Beach 2009.

Croc's Return


Eve Langlais - 2015
    Until it’s time to come back, a scarred veteran, in many ways broken and looking for a meaning to his life. Perhaps it's not too late to right some wrongs. Make amends. Kiss a certain pair of sweet lips one more time.If only Renny would damned well let him.It doesn’t take Caleb long to realize Renny’s just the thing this croc needs to bring him back to life. Yet, what if he loses control again? He doesn’t want to take nibbling on her thighs to a whole new level.Too bad, he can’t stay away, especially not when he discovers her secret. Add in a strange creature stalking the townsfolk and there is no way he’s leaving her alone.Years ago it just about killed him to leave, but Caleb’s a changed man now. A darker kind of animal, and this retired soldier is ready to kill so he can stay.Welcome to Bitten Point, where the swamp doesn't just keep its secrets, it sometimes eats them.

Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case


Kristen Painter - 2016
    Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now...private investigator. Sort of. Needing someone he can trust, her father sends her undercover to Nocturne Falls to find out why employees at the Santa's Workshop toy store are going missing. Doing that requires getting to know the town, which leads to interesting encounters with a sexy vampire, an old flame, and an elevator that's strictly off-limits. The more Jayne finds out, the more questions she has, but the answers lead her deeper into danger. Will her magic save her? Or will she come up cold?

Leftover Girl


C.C. Bolick - 2016
    At fifteen, she has adjusted to moving without notice and never fitting in, but everything changes with her adopted mom's hometown. There Jes falls for her mom's nephew, a love she hides when his betrayal leaves her isolated and driven to unravel the past.After Jes befriends a strange new student, she discovers an amazing secret: he's from another planet and searching for a missing girl who might be her. As Jes will learn, truth comes at a cost, but will she give up love to find out?

The Look of Love


Sarah Jio - 2014
    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. Inspired by the classic song, The Look of Love is utterly enchanting.

The Christmas Honeymoon (Holiday Luv, #1)


Alicia Street - 2013
    Giving back the wedding gifts and enduring the humiliating gossip in her small town proves to be too much for the quiet librarian who’d been the brunt of nerd jokes in high school, and Serena leaves town—only to return a year later determined to take back her life, her pride, and her joy in Christmas. Damien has his own reasons for hating Christmas. No sweet and silly stuff for this handsome Scrooge, who hurls himself into extreme sports, almost daring nature to break through his hard shell. So why does he find his icy heart melting when confronted with the timid librarian whose sweet smile haunts his dreams?

Batter Up


Robyn Neeley - 2014
    A delicious premonition she shares every Monday evening with the bachelors of Buttermilk Falls as they gather at the Sugar Spoon bakery for Batter Up night. Investigative reporter Jason Levine just found himself as the man candy for a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. Roped into attending the Vegas nuptials, was he hearing things when the groom shares that the only reason he’s getting married is because a small town baker conjured up the name of his soulmate in her cake batter? Sparks fly when Jason tries to expose Emma as a fraud, but reality and logic go out the window as he begins to fall under her spell.

A Dance Through Time


Lynn Kurland - 1996
    James MacLeod was the most respected---and feared---laird in all of Scotland. He loved his men like brothers and his land with a passion. And he allowed no women to cross the threshold of his keep...New York City, 1996. With an indifferent fiancé and a stalled writing career, Elizabeth Smith found passion and adventure only in the unpublished romance novels that she wrote. Until a Scottish hero began calling to her...Elizabeth longed for the man of her dreams. But she knew she was overworked when she began hearing his voice---when she was awake. To clear her mind, she took a walk in Gramercy Park. She dozed off on a bench---and woke up in a lush forest in fourteenth-century Scotland. A forest surrounding the castle of James MacLeod, an arrogant and handsome lord with a very familiar voice. Elizabeth would turn his ordered world upside-down and go where no woman had ever gone before: straight into his heart...

Happy Birthday to Me


Brian Rowe - 2011
    That’s what happens to Cameron, a popular pretty boy who's never had to face a day looking anything but perfect.All Cameron wants to do is go back to normal, but no one, not even the best doctors, can diagnose his condition. When he finds love with a mysterious young woman, however, he realizes his only hope for survival might be with the one person who started his condition in the first place...

Who We Were Before


Leah Mercer - 2016
    Of course it wasn’t. But if she’d just grasped harder, run faster, lunged quicker, she might have saved him. And Edward doesn’t really blame her, though his bitter words at the time still haunt her, and he can no more take them back than she can halt the car that killed their son.Two years on, every day is a tragedy. Edward knows they should take healing steps together, but he’s tired of being shut out. For Zoe, it just seems easier to let grief lead the way.A weekend in Paris might be their last hope for reconciliation, but mischance sees them separated before they’ve even left Gare du Nord. Lost and alone, Edward and Zoe must try to find their way back to each other—and find their way back to the people they were before. But is that even possible?

When Never Comes


Barbara Davis - 2018
    For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow—until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again.Desperate for answers, she’s shattered to learn that Stephen and his mistress had a child—a little girl named Iris, who now lives in poverty with her ailing great-grandmother. The thought of Iris abandoned to the foster care system—as Christy-Lynn once was—is unbearable. But she’s spent her whole life running—determined never to be hurt again. Will she finally stand still long enough to open herself up to forgiveness and love?