Guest post written by A Spell for Midwinter’s Heart author Morgan Lockhart
Morgan Lockhart hails from the Pacific Northwest, where she currently lives with her family, including her partner, two children, and a pack of fur babies. Growing up in the woods of Washington State, Morgan has always been telling and consuming stories in all shapes and sizes. She roamed her way to California, where she graduated with highest honors from the creative writing department at UC San Diego. Her path forked into video games then, as she put off her final trimester of college to work on her first video game. A Spell for Midwinter’s Heart is her first novel.
About A Spell for Midwinter’s Heart: In this holiday romance with an enchanting twist, a magic-averse witch returns home to save her small town’s beloved winter festival in time for the holidays with the help of her estranged coven and distractingly handsome childhood rival.
What happens when you take holiday “magic” and make it literal? Stories that will completely sweep you up in cozy wonder this holiday season. Ever since the Christmas Carol, writers have been using magical plot devices to create a sense of adventure and force their characters to travel down a path toward becoming the best version of themselves in time for Yuletide. Adding romance into the mix adds a delicious stake to that journey—fix your heart, or watch it break when love slips through your fingers.
From time travel to magical archives to charming ghosts, all of these books use magical twists to add an enchanting sparkle to familiar holiday romance tropes. The end result is a collection of delightful, satisfying reads that will help you get through those long winter nights.
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
Maelyn Jones is stuck in a time loop, reliving the same holiday trip to Utah, and must figure out how to break free. Could it have something to do with the two brothers between whom she also finds herself stuck? Holiday romance meets Groundhog Day in this timeloop romance that was both hilarious and touching. Family takes center stage, as Maelyn’s evolving relationships with both her biological family and found family prove critical to her escape.
Childhood friends to lovers pairs well with the story themes of nostalgia, tradition, and learning to let go and move on, all wrapped up in delightfully festive wrapping.
Winter’s Wishfall by Ceri Houlbrook
Ellie Lancaster flees heartbreak to take a job on a remote Scottish island where she finds her job is to archive centuries of scrolls that all begin “Dear Father Christmas…” There she is swept up in the magic and mystery of her task and learns to take charge of her life again. Along the way she also gains a found family, and a slow burn romance with a grumpy caretaker is the icing on the cake.
Enchanting, whimsical, and romantic, Houlbrook’s background in folklore comes through in how richly folkloric the whole tale reads. It leaves you wanting to believe in holiday magic.
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
Holly Chase had her shot at redemption when she was visited by three Ghosts, but she didn’t take it, and died shortly after. Given yet another shot at redemption, she is enlisted by Project Scrooge to be their latest Ghost of Christmas Past. Her first five years of afterlife proved to be as miserable as her life had been, but then she meets her newest Scrooge and everything begins to change for the better.
A beautiful, modern retelling full of the Scrooge story full of second chances and a whole lot of heart.
The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling
The Wedding Witch follows the third Penhallow brother, Bowen, a reclusive witch from the mountains of Wales, and Tamsyn, a procurer of magical artifacts, as they attend a Yuletime wedding in a fake relationship and end up swept back to 1957 to solve a magical mystery that spans generations. They struggle to set things right while not unraveling too much of the future they hope to return to, all the while navigating a growing attraction for another.
My personal favorite of Sterling’s popular Graves Glen series, Bowen and Tamsyn’s escapades are equal parts festive, intriguing, and sexy.
Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch
Nightmare Before Kissmas brings us into the world behind all of the holidays, which is run by elaborate courts each ruled by monarchs and grow in power with the celebration of their holidays. Courtly politics takes front-and-center as Coal, the prince of Christmas, is forced to be betrothed to his best friend, the princess of Easter. This gets even more complicated as Hex, the Prince of Halloween, arrives to compete for her hand. As these things go, the princes of these holidays end up much more interested in each other than the princess.
The romance between the golden-heated prince of Christmas and the broody, guarded prince of Halloween has all the swoony, festive, slow-burn enemies to lovers charm you could hope for, and the magic is charmingly drawn directly from the holidays themselves.
Good Spirits by B.K. Borison
People pleasing Harriet finds herself haunted by a Ghost of Christmas Past Nolan, who insists he must’ve been sent because she has something that needs fixing. But though he is able to take her on a magical journey through her memories, neither of them can find anything in her past behavior that would justify his assignment to redeem her. The longer the assignment drags out, the more his magic begins to go haywire, and the closer they are drawn together.
The end result is magic, mayhem, and a deeply cozy and sexy story about learning to trust that you are enough and finally letting down the walls that kept you safe.
Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle
Bettie Hughes, a once wealthy influencer now secretly broke and squatting in a dead woman’s house, has been dreading facing her family at the holidays—that is, until she accidentally plays a record backward and conjures Hall, the Holiday Spirit, a charming if offbeat man who offers to grant her wishes in order to help her rediscover joy and connection. They attend her family’s Christmas gathering as fake fiances, with Hal granting Bettie’s wish after wish, but the happier she becomes, the shorter his time on earth grows.
This book has Hogle’s trademark hilarious mayhem and delightfully eccentric characters, alongside the magic of second chances.
Season of the Witch by Sophie Morgan
High on my winter TBR for this year is the third in Sophie Morgan’s Toil and Trouble series. Season of the Witch forces together a pair of magical exes, Tia and Henry, who are forced together in a fake dating arrangement in order to secure a deal for the benefit of their recently merged family potion companies. Henry wants to win Tia back, but his efforts are complicated by the fact she erased memories of their time together.
This festive enemies to lovers promises banter, shenanigans, and a deeper story about family, identity, and vulnerability.
