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Books to Match Your Taylor Swift Era: Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (2007)

Celebrate the season with these picks!

By Kristen BarenthalerPublished 8 months ago 5 min read

The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Dash and Lily have had a tough year since readers first watched the couple fall in love. Lily's beloved grandfather suffered a heart attack, and his difficult road to recovery has taken a major toll on her typically sunny disposition. With only twelve days left until Christmas--Lily's favorite time of the year--Dash, Lily's brother Langston, and their closest friends take Manhattan by storm to help Lily recapture the holiday magic of New York City in December.

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

When Sophie's overprotective parents decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, she's is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship. Sophie flees to her grandparents' house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That's when her nonna devises a plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. This is going to be the worst Christmas break ever... or is it?

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

After being visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve, Holly Chase chooses not to mend her spoiled ways. Upon her death Holly discovers her selfishness has caused her to work for eternity as a ghost of Christmas past. Every year Project Scrooge saves another miserly grouch, and Holly stays frozen at seventeen while her family and friends go on living without her. But this year, everything is about to change...

One Way or Another by Kara McDowell

The average person makes 35,000 decisions every single day. Paige Collins lives in debilitating fear of making the wrong choice. The simple act of picking an art elective is enough to send her into a spiral of what ifs. When Paige is presented with two last-minute options for Christmas vacation, she's paralyzed by indecision. Should she go with her best friend (and longtime crush) Fitz to his family's romantic mountain cabin? Or accompany her mom to New York, a city Paige has spent her whole life dreaming about? A slip on a grocery store floor splits Paige's life into two very different parallel paths. Will either destiny give her a happy ending?

Whiteout by Dhonielle Clayton & Tiffany D. Jackson & Nic Stone & Angie Thomas & Ashley Woodfolk & Nicola Yoon

In Atlanta, just before Christmas, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life during the storm of the century, which results in a magical moment that changes everything.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they're reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different -- Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye. Josiah's ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn't ready to let him. She's got a plan: What if -- instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut -- they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he's been mooning over for three years ... What if their last shift was an adventure? Beloved writer Rainbow Rowell and Eisner Award-winning artist Faith Erin Hicks have teamed up to create this tender and hilarious story about two irresistible teens discovering what it means to leave behind a place -- and a person -- with no regrets.

Meet Cute by Jennifer L. Armentrout & Katie Cotugno & Jocelyn Davies & Huntley Fitzpatrick & Nina LaCour & Emery Lord & Katharine McGee & Kass Morgan & Julie Murphy & Meredith Russo & Sara Shepard & Nicola Yoon & Ibi Zoboi

A collection of short stories exploring the moment when a couple meets for the first time--from an African American girl in upstate New York who simultaneously finds a prom dress and a date to a transgender girl who confronts the student blocking her right to use the school restroom.

My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you're going to fall in love with My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Years, there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.

Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Tis the season for change and Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is embracing it, returning from the States to live in the charming village of Letherby and working with her best friend, Suze, in the gift shop of Suze's stately home. Life is good, especially now that Becky takes time every day for mindfulness...which actually means listening to a meditation tape while hunting down online bargains. But Becky still adores the traditions of Christmas: Her parents host, carols play on repeat, her mother pretends she made the Christmas pudding, and the neighbors come 'round for sherry in their terrible holiday sweaters. Things are looking cheerier than ever, until Becky's parents announce they're moving to ultra-trendy Shoreditch--unable to resist the draw of craft beer and smashed avocados--and ask Becky if she'll host this year. What could possibly go wrong?

The Twelve Topsy-Turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas by James Patterson & Tad Safran

During the holiday season, a family of three, missing someone very dear to them, find their house filling up with unexpected guests, making Christmas memories to last a lifetime.

The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

When it comes to relationships, thirty-four-year-old Kate Turner is ready to say "Bah, humbug." The sleepy town of Blexford, England, isn't exactly brimming with prospects, and anyway, Kate's found fulfillment in her career as a designer, and in her delicious side job baking for her old friend Matt's neighborhood café. But then her best friend signs her up for a dating agency that promises to help singles find love before the holidays. Twenty-three days until Christmas. Twelve dates with twelve different men. The odds must finally be in her favor... right? Yet with each new date more disastrous than the one before--and the whole town keeping tabs on her misadventures--Kate must remind herself that sometimes love, like mistletoe, shows up where it's least expected. And maybe, just maybe, it's been right under her nose all along...

Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (2007)

Last Christmas

Christmases When You Were Mine

Santa Baby

Silent Night

Christmas Must Be Something More

White Christmas

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About the Creator

Kristen Barenthaler

Curious adventurer. Crazed reader. Librarian. Archery instructor. True crime addict.

Instagram: @kristenbarenthaler

Facebook: @kbarenthaler

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  • alan stiles8 months ago

    These stories sound interesting. I like how different the plots are. Dash and Lily trying to recapture holiday magic sounds fun. And Sophie being set up on blind dates? That could lead to some crazy situations. It makes me wonder which character will have the most eventful Christmas. Also, Holly's afterlife as a ghost of Christmas past seems like a unique take. Can't wait to see how these stories unfold!

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