The holiday season is rapidly approaching, and it’s time to start thinking about what gifts to get the special people in your life. If you are searching for a gift for the book lover in your life, you’ve come to the right place. My book lovers gift guide has seven new release books that would make great holiday gifts, plus some other fun bookish items.
Happy reading!
Christmas at the Lake
I thought it would be fun to kick off this book lovers gift guide with a holiday romance novel. Christmas at the Lake is a second chance romance set during the most wonderful time of the year.
On Christmas Eve, just hours before their wedding, Rebecca Huntley is left at the altar by Ben Cole, her college sweetheart and fellow cofounder of the hugely successful dating app Dealbreakers. Rebecca is shocked, but a small part of her isn’t surprised. Dealbreakers matches potential couples by the things they hate, instead of what they have in common.
Lately, she and Ben seem to have less and less in common.
Rebecca decides to go on their honeymoon in the charming small town of Christmas Cove on the shores of Lake Tahoe. There, she runs into an old college friend, Zach Mason, who always had a crush on her.
People are complicated. Everyone has positive attributes as well as faults—but none are dealbreakers when you’re really in love. As Christmas week unfolds, will the two…be open for a second chance at love?
Dealbreakers
A contemporary romance novel, Dealbreakers is a new release from Lauren Forsythe.
Coder Marina Spicer has no time to waste when it comes to love. Frustrated by the online dating world, she created Dealbreakers, an anonymous app where women review how men stack up to their internet profiles.
Enter Lucas Kennedy…he’s the only one standing between Marina and her long-deserved promotion. Much to Marina’s chagrin, the two are paired on a project to test out date ideas, ultimately determining which of them will run the department. Taking a peek at Dealbreakers hoping to learn some dirt about her rival, she finds he’s the worst-rated man on the entire app.
As Lucas and Marina argue their way through mixing cocktails, salsa dancing, and throwing axes, Marina finds herself having more fun than she’s had in years. So when temptation becomes too strong to resist, Marina allows herself to break some of her own rules.
After all, if the Dealbreakers say he’s Mr. Wrong, he can’t possibly be Mr. Right . . . can he?
Friends Don’t Fall in Love
Erin Hahn’s Friends Don’t Fall in Love is a book about long-time friends, taking chances, and finding out that, sometimes, your perfect person was right there in your corner all along.
Lorelai Jones had it all: a thriving country music career and a superstar fiancé. Then she played one teenie tiny protest song at a concert and ruined her entire future, including her impending celebrity marriage. But five years later, she refuses to be done with her dreams and calls up the one person who stuck by her, her dear friend and her former fiancé’s co-writer and bandmate, Craig.
Craig Boseman’s held a torch for Lorelai for years, but even he knows the backup bass player never gets the girl. Things are different now, though. Craig owns his own indie record label and his songwriting career is taking off. If he can confront his past and embrace his gifts, he might just be able to help Lorelai earn the comeback she deserves—and maybe win her heart in the process.
But when the two reunite to rebuild her career and finally scratch that itch that’s been building between them for years, Lorelai realizes a lot about what friends don’t do. And they sure as heck don’t fall in love… right?
The Hike
The next book on my book lovers gift guide is The Hike by Lucy Clarke. This suspense and thriller book will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.
Burned-out by both her marriage and work, Liz is desperate for an escape. More than that, she craves an adventure, a total reset. So, when she plans a vacation with her three best friends, she persuades them to spend four nights camping in the stunning mountains of Norway.
Following a trail that climbs through lush valleys, towering peaks, and past jewel-blue lakes, Liz is sure that the hike is just what they need.
But as they stride farther from civilization, it becomes clear that the women are not the only ones looking to lose themselves in the mountains. The wilderness hides secrets darker than they could ever have imagined, and if they’re not careful . . . not all of them will return.
More suspense and thriller books that I enjoyed reading were Wrong Place, Wrong Time, The It Girl, and Mad Honey.
Love Interest
Clare Gilmore’s debut novel, Love Interest, is the next book in my book lovers gift guide.
Casey Maitland has always preferred the reliability of numbers. Now a twenty-four-year-old finance expert working in Manhattan, she wonders if the open project manager position at her company—magazine powerhouse LC Publications—is a sign from the universe to pursue a career with a little more sparkle.
That is, until she’s passed over for the job in favor of the board chairman’s son.
Alex Harrison is handsome, Harvard-educated, and enigmatic. Everybody loves him—except for Casey. But when the two are thrown on the same project, what they discover about their company might change everything—including the dreams each of them is chasing and their mutual love interest.
Can you tell that contemporary romance is my favorite genre? Here are some more that I’ve recently read and really enjoyed: Things We Hide from the Light, The Seven Year Slip, You, with a View, and Planes, Trains, and all the Feels.
Maybe Once, Maybe Twice
Maybe Once, Maybe Twice is a novel of second chances and finding your own way.
You know that old saying, “if we are still single when we’re 35, we should get married?” Well, Maggie Vine made that vow with two different people, at two very different stages of her life. And they both showed up.
Maggie Vine’s life is going extra-medium. At 35 she’s pursuing her dreams of being a singer and being a mother—though neither is successfully panning out. So when Garrett Scholl—stifled hedge fund manager by day but electrifying aspiring rock singer by night—comes to her 35th birthday party with the intention to kiss Maggie senseless, it feels like one piece might click into place.
Enter Asher Reyes. Her first boyfriend from summer camp, turned into heartthrob actor, he’s lived a successful yet private life ever since he got famous. When a career-changing opportunity is presented to Maggie after her reconnection with Asher, it feels like everything—music, love, family—will fall into place. But her past won’t let her move on without a fight.
Tom Clancy Weapons Grade
The newest release from the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Tom Clancy is Weapons Grade. If you’re looking to buy a gift for someone who enjoys reading military fiction, this fast-paced book is it!
The quiet of a Texas night is shattered by the sounds of screeching brakes, crumpling metal and, most shockingly, rapid gunfire. The auto accident Jack Ryan Jr thought he witnessed turned out to be a professional hit. Jack may be too late to save the victim, but he’ll be damned if he’s going to let the hitters escape justice.
He’s got just one lead—a meeting the victim was going to. When Jack shows up instead, he’s drawn into the seedy underbelly of a small, Texas town and the cold case of a college student who vanished from its streets.
Jack is left with nothing but questions. Who wants it to look like the victim was drunk? Why does someone want an innocent witness killed? And most of all, what’s a team of South African hitmen doing in the Lone Star State? His quest for answers…may just cost him his life.
Fun Book Lovers Gift Guide Items
I don’t know about you, but there are four things I need when I settle in to read a good book:
Does the person your shopping for prefer e-books? Gift them a Kindle! Do they prefer to read physical books? How about a rechargeable book light or thumb ring page holder?
These books were sent to me for the purpose of writing this post. Opinions and reviews are 100% mine and unbiased.