Books like The Bureau of Holiday Affairs

A week before Christmas, Kate Ryan moves back into her old neighborhood on the North side of Chicago. Back where she started and ended her P.I. business. Kate purchases a renovated brownstone and she gets it for a song. When Kate finds out that the former tenant, a scientist, was murdered in the kitchen, she understands why she got it so cheap.

Is it a coincidence the dead doctor worked at University Hospital with Maggie? When Kate accidentally discovers a journal from the murdered scientist in the brick wall of her fireplace, she realizes it is not.

All of the… show more.

Mackenzie Campbell has no idea her life is about to fall apart. She’s bright and attractive with a good job, a comfortable home and an impending Christmas wedding she’s been planning for months. So when her girlfriend bails less than two weeks before the nuptials, Kenzie’s picture perfect Christmas world begins to crumble around her.

Determined to hold on to at least some shred of her dignity, Kenzie snags her best friend, Allison, and flees the cold of the Northeast to take the honeymoon anyway. The Rainbow’s Edge is an enormous LGBT resort in Southern Florida, and its atmosphere of… show more.

Abby Carpenter is in a tailspin knowing she is about to spend ten days in the company of her ex-girlfriend—who is now engaged to her brother—for a family holiday gathering in Red River, New Mexico. The same ex-girlfriend who last year at Christmas had lured her into bed. Abby’s solution? A pretend girlfriend for the holidays would surely keep her ex away and in her own room at night, right?

Nic Bennett’s life has been far from ideal and Christmas is her most dreaded holiday of all as she relives horrors from the past. When an attractive stranger approaches her… show more.

Kellen McLin has been waiting for her moment for a long time. She says when two people who are meant to be together find each other, they know it instantly. Kellen believes her moment girl has finally arrived, but there’s one big problem—she’s a Sealy. The McLins and the Sealys are south Louisiana’s version of the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Stevie Sealy left Louisiana for college and didn’t return except for holiday visits with her family. After a breakup with her boyfriend, she decides to move back to the town of Sealy temporarily. She never really understood or wanted to… show more.

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how Charles Dickens revived the signal holiday of the Western world—now a major motion picture.

Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.

The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had… show more.

'I really enjoyed it, such a brilliant first novel' Christie Barlow, author of the Love Heart Lane series

'Oh this book was just beautiful. A book filled with love, sparks and Christmas magic' NetGalley reviewer

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She's here for the perfect Christmas escape...

When Sharmila discovers her late friend, Thomas, has gifted her the holiday of her dreams, she can't pack her bags fast enough. Arriving in Pineford, it's everything she'd ever hoped for and more.

But she's in for another surprise, because Thomas has left her with one last request: if she completes his… show more.

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fright…”

What if Santa Claus was really a young, mad trickster and you had the one thing he wanted? What if the only person who agrees to protect you has a dark past of letting those he’s meant to protect die? What if one day you’re walking in the city and suddenly you can see another world tucked into the cracks of your own?

Helen Bell has been unwanted her whole life. So, when a young, handsome Winter guardian appears to aid her in a crisis, she’s sure he’s got his… show more.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story, about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been a popular one for adaptation, especially for presentation during the Christmas season.

One little white lie.

That's all it took. Now I'm suddenly having to fake-date my work nemesis to get me through a week at a Vermont Christmas lodge with my family.

The problem? I can't stand Miles Taylor. Not only that, but I don't date people I work with. But I can handle it. I've had practice faking my emotions for years. So it shouldn't matter that Miles never lets me get away with anything. And that he happens to boil my blood hotter than a steaming pot of wassail. So when he throws his annoying grin my way or… show more.