I’ve been struggling with the holiday spirit this year. I mean, I’m no elf, but I like the holidays (hate the shopping, but that’s not really the holidays anyway). But this year I’m just not feeling it. First, we didn’t get a tree for a variety of reasons (including, but not limited to, a sick husband, planned holiday travels, and the logistical nightmare of an almost 1.5 year old toddler and ornaments), so there isn’t much around the house that’s festive.

Plus, I have to work and try to get ready to leave my clients/cases for 2 weeks, I have to study (let’s not even get into how insane I am for taking a tax class with the rest of my life), I have to pack for our trip, and even more fun stuff that I won’t bore you with (too late!).

My usual options of drinking hot cocoa and streaming holiday movies till I want to barf is also not going to work this year (see above reasons for lack of time). So I was left being a grinch, until I remembered that holiday themed romances are a thing. Like, a genre unto itself. I may need to indulge in a few minutes here and there of holiday romance reading (perhaps sneaking my kindle into the bathroom wtih me for a few blissful minutes of independent reading time… I can see it now… *knock, knock* uh, hun, you’ve been in the bathroom for 2 hours. Everything ok?)

But it started me thinking about holiday books. Do you have holiday book traditions in the same way I religiously watch Love Actually every year? If so, what books can I not live without reading (doesn’t have to be romance – or even full novels).

What is it about those books that keeps you coming back year after year? Are they blatently holiday themed (smack you upside the head with a christmas tree or menorah?) or are they more subtle, more in the spirit of the holiday and less in the obvious holiday mode?

Basically, what can I do to get my mojo back, in ways that don’t take much effort/energy/time?

Melinda Skye

Skye became the black sheep of her university’s literature department when she announced that what she really wanted to do for her senior thesis, instead of writing a thought-provoking essay on the deeper meanings of James Joyce, was to write a romance novel. They gave in, however, and the rest is history. As a result, Skye learned more than she ever thought possible about the inner workings of the publishing industry and off and on, given her schedule, pursued publication of both her senior thesis and other novels she’s written along the way.

Skye has many names and almost as many personalities to go with them. As Melinda Skye, she writes Romantic Suspense, Urban Fantasy, and Young Adult. As Skye Forbes, she may (or may not) have saved the world a few times over. In her real life, under another different name, Skye is a lawyer. And yes, if you ask nicely, she might help keep you out of jail. Or put you in it. It depends on her mood.
Skye lives in California, with her husband, brand new daughter, and menagerie of animals.

www.melindaskye.com/