I have a veritable cornucopia of book recommendations for you today, courtesy of our FaRo authors. This week we put out a call on our discord for books with holiday and winter vibes, and the group delivered!
Many of today's book recommendations feature general wintery settings. It is a popular season for fantasy romance novels--all the ice and fire really heat things up! But first, let's look at Winter Solstice, a main inspiration for several books on our list.
- Vela Roth's Blood Sanctuary features scorching fated mates in its epic fantasy winter Solstice story.
- Stephanie Burgiss's Snowspelled is a low-steam gaslamp fantasy that takes place at a Winter Solstice house party.
- Jeffe Kennedy's The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon is a swoon-worthy epic fantasy romance novella.
- Coffee Quills' Fae Soiree has a winter Solstice party setting for this fae poly romance tale.
- Helen Rygh-Pedersen's Apple Seeds in the Snow has a fantasy version of winter Solstice and fairy tale vibes.
- Catrina Bell's Beastly and Bookish starts with solstice and ends at New Year's, and features love over books between a librarian and a demon.
Yuletide is also popular for Fantasy Romance holiday books. The ancient pagan traditions work well for epic fantasy and other supernatural topics. Christmas also inspires some of the tales in our list.
- Grace Draven's Sunday's Child is a contemporary fantasy romance set at Christmas starring a museum archivist and an immortal elf.
- Laura Greenwood's Frosts and Fears includes a Yuletide ball in this retelling of the Snow Queen fairy tale.
- Isla Elrick's Gift of the Magi is a retelling of the classic Yuletide tale in a high fantasy setting.
- Sirena Knighton's Wedded to the Warlord features Yuletide celebrations in an arranged marriage romance.
- Gwyneira Blythe's Ice Cold Moon is a reverse harem academy tale set at Yuletide.
- Irene Davis's Sugar and Snow is a continuation of the Nutcracker tale, featuring a low heat romance.
General winter vibes feature in a number of our author's books. The genres range from academy + gaslamp to contemporary fantasy to epic and shifters. There is something for everyone! The low to mid-steam recommendations come first.
- Fiona West's Bringing Down the King is a contemporary royals tale with a guaranteed HEA.
- Arizona Tape's Wolf's Whisper has everything you could ask for--a sapphic fantasy romance with werewolves.
- Kat Keenan's So Fell are the Fae features a winter fae court and medium heat in a romance between fated mates.
- R.C. Ballad's A Song for Octaven includes the celebration of a fictional winter holiday in a gaslamp academic setting.
If you're looking for a read to keep you warm, these books will suit you! These high steam and scorching tales have it all--vampires, feisty heroines, and bear shifters.
- Lisette Marshall's Iron is a hot enemies-to-lovers read in a thrilling epic fantasy setting.
- Isabella Khalidi's The Snows of Nissa is a dark fantasy romance with a warrior and General who burn up the night.
- Ophelia Wells Langley's The Moon and the Hunt features forbidden love between a vampire and a shifter that melts the snow in the Swiss Alps.
- Meredith Hart's Heart's Rescue is an enemies-to-lovers tale with scorching scenes in an epic fantasy world.
- Kass O'Shire's A Polar Expedition is a high-steam gaslamp story with a polar bear shifter.
- Elayna R. Gallea and Daniela A. Mera's A Court of Fire and Frost is a Romeo and Juliet retelling with a Summer and Winter Fae pair who can't resist each other.
I'm tempted to begin with solstice and then move on to the Yuletide and Christmas recommendations for my holiday break. I'll save the Winter vibes books for January, when I can curl up in a nice chair in front of the fireplace as the January snows swirl outside.
Which ones will you read first?
Stay safe and warm, Mimi
