Spicy Christmas Romance Books: Open-Door Holiday Reads

• M/F
• 5/5
• Christmas-central
• Holiday movie set
• Body positive

A plus-size adult-film star goes undercover in a wholesome holiday TV movie opposite a former boy-band heartthrob trying to clean up his image. A full-sugar Christmas-movie romp with frank, body-positive sex.

Gift it to: Someone who loves Hallmark movies but wishes they had a lot more heat.

Series: A Christmas Notch #1 · Published September 20, 2022 (Avon)
Heat: 5/5 — Explicit and plentiful (romance.io, 186 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 3.7★ from 6,695 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Fatphobia and slut-shaming are addressed in the story (Under the Covers review). The heroine works in adult entertainment.

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• M/F
• 4/5
• Christmas Eve concert
• Second chance
• Medium angst

The grown children of two feuding rock-star mothers team up to reunite the band for a Christmas Eve concert, and their teenage spark reignites. Expect filthy-mouthed banter more than tinsel; some readers say the Christmas atmosphere is light.

Gift it to: A Tessa Bailey fan.

Published October 3, 2023 (Avon)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 159 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 3.9★ from 8,081 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Reviewer-listed: blackmail, anxiety, emotionally abusive parents, paparazzi, PTSD. Orgasm-denial kink.

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• M/F
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• NYC store windows
• Short

A woman fresh out of prison talks her way into designing the Christmas windows at a Manhattan department store and falls for the manager who hired her. Short, festive and very hot in its second half.

Gift it to: A New-York-at-Christmas lover.

Published December 14, 2021 (Piatkus)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 206 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 3.9★ from 21,735 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Criminal record backstory, a toxic friendship, boss/employee dynamic (reviewers).

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• M/F
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Fake dating
• Age gap

Dumped before the office Christmas party, Abbie fake-dates her ex’s much older boss for revenge, and the arrangement quickly becomes real. A new trade paperback from Union Square & Co. came out on 6 October 2026, so it should be easy to find in stores.

Gift it to: A friend going through a breakup.

Series: Seasons of Revenge #1 · Published October 24, 2022 (Independently published)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.2★ from 31,044 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Reviewer-noted: verbal abuse from the ex, relationship trauma, an STI conversation, age gap.

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• M/F
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Second chance
• Medium angst

A career woman’s family Christmas at the cabin is upended when the first love who broke her heart nearly twenty years ago turns up as her brother’s guest. Funny family chaos with an emotional backbone.

Gift it to: Second-chance fans who like a lump in the throat.

Series: Holiday Hijinx #1 · Published October 12, 2023 (Pan)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 103 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.4★ from 23,821 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Reviewer-listed: childhood cancer (off page), serious illness and death, tragic backstory. No cheating.

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• M/F
• 5/5
• Christmas-central
• Snowed-in B&B
• Novella

A sex-toy sales rep snowed in at a B&B over Christmas starts a no-strings fling with a bearded local, and feelings sneak in. Warm, funny and toy-forward.

Gift it to: The friend who would laugh at a sex-toy joke in a Christmas card.

Series: So Over the Holidays #1 · Published November 1, 2019 (Erin Mc)
Heat: 5/5 — Explicit and plentiful (romance.io, 15 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.0★ from 368 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Author-listed: explicit sexual content; discussion of deceased family members.

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• F/F
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Exes
• Medium angst

Five years after one jilted the other at the altar, two exes land in the same Colorado house for Christmas and agree to pretend they are strangers. Big yearning, a cozy winter setting and genuinely hot scenes.

Gift it to: Sapphic readers who love exes-to-lovers pining.

Published October 1, 2024 (Berkley)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 79 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.2★ from 1,783 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Being left at the altar; difficult reconciliation.

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• F/F
• Hot
• Christmas-central
• Sapphic awakening

A tech CEO has to save a small-town photo-truck business by Christmas and falls for its outspoken lesbian owner. Hallmark premise, late-bloomer awakening, open door.

Gift it to: Hallmark fans who want it queer and spicy.

Published November 15, 2024 (Smokeshow) · 266 pages
Heat: Hot & Steamy: explicit (I Heart Sapphfic). romance.io shows no steam rating.
Amazon: 4.4★ from 448 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Explicit sex; coming-out arc.

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• F/F
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Bakers
• Rivals

A local baker and a newly arrived patisserie owner are forced to share a kitchen for a Christmas movie shoot, and the rivalry boils over into something much hotter.

Gift it to: Pair it with good cookies.

Series: Wintermore #2 · Published October 7, 2025 (Sophie)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 13 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.0★ from 260 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Age gap. The author says full content warnings are on her website (we did not open it).

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• F/F
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Scottish cottage
• Only one bed
• Low angst

A shy Californian renting a remote Scottish cottage for Christmas finds it double-booked by a chainsaw sculptor who wanted the holiday alone, and a snowstorm leaves them sharing the one bed. Low-angst, cozy and explicit.

Gift it to: Readers who want snowed-in coziness with real heat.

Published November 21, 2024
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 8 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.6★ from 419 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Tagged low angst by I Heart Sapphfic; no formal warning list found.

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• F/F
• Explicit
• Christmas tree lot
• Butch/femme
• Small-town scandal

Freshly dumped, a curvy and outspoken woman kisses her ex’s tattooed, motorcycle-building twin at a Christmas tree lot in Coos Bay, and the small town will not stop talking.

Gift it to: Readers who like a messy small-town Christmas.

Published November 20, 2025 (Barachou) · 129 pages
Heat: Explicit, with sex toys (I Heart Sapphfic tags). romance.io shows no steam rating.
Amazon: 4.5★ from 220 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Dating an ex’s twin; family conflict.

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• M/M
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Fake dating
• Low angst

A gruff ex-Marine and a lonely man agree to fake a relationship through the holidays, with lessons in casual sex thrown in, until it stops being casual. Classic fake-dating comfort with real heat.

Gift it to: An M/M reader who loves a soft-hearted grump.

Series: Festive Fakes #1 · Published November 14, 2019 (KA)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 43 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.5★ from 3,056 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Not assessed.

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• M/M
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Alaska
• Santa and an elf
• Age gap

A grumpy retiring military police sergeant is roped into playing Santa for a small-town charity run by a relentlessly cheerful elf, and a snowstorm does the rest. Cozy Alaskan Christmas with a big age gap.

Gift it to: Grumpy/sunshine fans.

Published November 12, 2018 (Carina)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 31 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.4★ from 743 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Age gap (46/28, per Smexy Books).

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• M/M
• 5/5
• Christmas-central
• Light D/s
• Age gap

A closeted former teacher and his now-grown ex-student, a musician home for Christmas, start a kinky holiday fling that might last. Sweet underneath, with light D/s.

Gift it to: An M/M reader who wants a little kink at Christmas.

Series: Home for the Holidays #2 · Published November 11, 2019 (Leta Blake)
Heat: 5/5 — Explicit and plentiful (romance.io, 16 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.5★ from 1,030 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Light D/s, impact play; former teacher–student dynamic (both adults now); a closeted lead.

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• M/M
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Novella
• Daddy kink

A drifting young mall elf gets snowed in with the grumpy tree-farm owner filling in as Santa, and daddy-kink role play follows. Short, sweet and very spicy.

Gift it to: Only for a reader who knows what the title means.

Published November 28, 2018 (KA)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 32 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.3★ from 1,669 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Death of a loved one (reviewer); daddy kink and age gap.

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• M/M
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Scrooge riff
• Novella

A Christmas-hating Manhattan dealmaker gets stranded at the Vermont tree farm he is trying to buy and falls for its owner. A short Scrooge riff with heat.

Gift it to: Someone who loves a Scrooge redemption.

Published November 29, 2022 · 152 pages
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 24 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.4★ from 794 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Not assessed.

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• F/F
• 5/5
• New Year’s Eve
• Online friends meet
• Bi heroines

Two long-time online friends finally meet in person at a New Year’s Eve gathering at a snowy forest resort, and the friendship turns hot fast. One of the few explicit sapphic New Year’s romances we could document.

Gift it to: Readers who want a midnight kiss instead of Christmas.

Series: So Over the Holidays #4 · Published December 1, 2020 (Erin Mc)
Heat: 5/5 — Explicit and plentiful (romance.io, 21 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.1★ from 416 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Not assessed.

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• Why choose (MFMM)
• 5/5
• New Year’s Eve
• Three blind dates

A real-estate agent stacks three blind dates on New Year’s Eve, then discovers the men are best friends who all want to keep seeing her. A light, very steamy why-choose for the countdown.

Gift it to: The why-choose reader who is done with Christmas books.

Published January 18, 2021 (Juicy Gems) · 260 pages
Heat: 5/5 — Explicit and plentiful (romance.io, 17 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.4★ from 1,228 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Group scenes (reviewers).

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• M/F
• 5/5
• Christmas-central
• Stalker hero
• Dark

A firefighter who has silently watched over a grieving jewellery influencer since the crash that killed her family becomes fixated when he finds her secret online persona. A big recent dark holiday hit from Avon.

Gift it to: Only a friend who already reads dark/stalker romance.

Series: Naughty or Nice #1 · Published November 26, 2024 (Avon a)
Heat: 5/5 — Explicit and plentiful (romance.io, 66 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 3.8★ from 14,848 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Publisher: some themes may be disturbing; check the warnings at the front of the book. Reviewer-relayed warnings: stalking, voyeurism, hidden cameras, D/s, impact play, possessiveness.

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• M/F
• 4/5
• Christmas-central
• Stalker hero
• Dark

A struggling jewellery designer accepts a reclusive billionaire’s investment on condition that she lives in his penthouse, while his enemies close in. The follow-up for readers who finished book one.

Gift it to: Readers who finished book one.

Series: Naughty or Nice #2 · Published September 16, 2025 (Avon a)
Heat: 4/5 — Explicit open door (romance.io, 44 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.0★ from 6,599 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Publisher: stalker hero, morally grey; check the warnings at the front of the book. Detailed list not assessed.

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• M/F
• 5/5
• Christmas-central
• Captivity
• Extreme

A Santa-suited serial killer kidnaps the bartender who got him thrown out of a strip club and holds her captive over the holidays. This is the extreme end of the dark holiday trend.

Gift it to: Do not gift blind; only for confirmed dark-romance readers who have checked the warnings.

Published December 2, 2024
Heat: 5/5 — Explicit and plentiful (romance.io, 15 ratings, checked 15 Oct 2026)
Amazon: 4.1★ from 389 ratings (checked 15 Oct 2026)
Content notes: Heavy. The publisher points to a full warning list on the author’s website (not opened by us). Reviewer-listed: stalking, kidnapping and captivity, serial killing, gore, knife play, dubious consent and non-consent.

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