6 Delightful reads for this December

The month of December is the tailpiece of all the months. Regardless of the turbulent relationships, stressful work hours, the uncertainty you have lived through, and the irreplaceable loss you may have delt with, everything narrows down to the month of December, when the holidays huddle up leading to a brand new year, where we spend our days of epilogue of the year with our loved ones celebrating the end of an eventful year and the beginning of a new one. If you find yourself in the holiday spirit looking for some of the most scrumptious reads to accompany your thoughts, here’s a selection of books just for you.

1. Christmas On The Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan
Set on a cozy and remote island, tucked somewhere between Scottland and Norway, Mure awaits the grand opening of its own fancy hotel run by Flora MacKenzie, a new mother whose motherhood seems to be displaced in the views of her insecurity and her brother Fintan is still grieving the loss of his dearest love who was also the former owner of The Rock. Inspite of the constant complications that untimely show up, they must pull through for the opening of the hotel. Meanwhile, Isla, a small-town girl finds herself at the launch of her career with a bigger position in the Kitchen of the Island Hotel. Moving from the Island Café waitress to the Hotel is a big jump for Isla but she intends to do her best, whereas her colleague, Konstantin has a lot to learn to build his skills and to understand the effort that goes into earning every single penny before he is handed his inheritance as the son of the Duke of Utsire. The chemistry between Isla and Konstantin sparks brightly but is immediately put to question once Isla learns about Konstantin’s secret about being the son of a Duke, because why would someone so important like him truly love a nobody like Isla? Dive into a snuggly book concocted with the perfect ingredients for a mellow winter tale that intertwines the lives of four people who meet at the Island Hotel. An absolutely inviting story authored by Jenny Colgan.

2. The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell
Beatrice, an inquisitive eight-year-old, receives an invitation to a mysterious winter garden while mourning her mother’s death. The garden she witnessed is entirely otherworldly. Every single flora and fauna were so strange, new and absolutely magical. The seven days she spent at the garden were nights she would remember for the rest of her life because one day the garden would just disappear, and no one ever believed her words about the mystical winter garden. Over time Beatrice’s memory grew blurry and she couldn’t tell if visiting the garden was ever real or had it been an oddly vivid dream. Eighteen years later, Lady Beatrice Sitwell finds herself unwilling to marry the man her late father had approved. Casting away the norms of her society, Beatrice sets out to look for the garden. Perfectly times, Beatrice and her friend Rosa receive an invite to compete at a competition to create exquisite pleasure gardens, with the price being one wish from the last of the Winter Garden’s magic. After eighteen years, she finally has enough proof for herself that the garden exists somewhere. If she wants to seek for it, she must simply win the competition. A purely unique and a refreshing winter tale set in the Victorian era written by Alexandra Bell.

3. Family Tree by Susan Wiggs
Annie Harlow Rush wakes up from a yearlong coma to world where her whole world has moved on while she was frozen in time. Annie is a successful cooking-show producer, who is married to TV star and have been living the perfect life until she walks in on her husband cheating on her with his on-screen assisstant. When Annie storms out, she is struck on her head by an on-set machinery falling. She wakes up from a painful coma in her Vermont hometown after a year with a terrible immune system, her husband having left her and amnesia. She is greeted by her three brothers, her divorced mom and her little nieces and nephews and never to forget, the generations old maple farm where she grew up. She was back at the same place she left to chase her dreams. She reencounters her friends and family she had left behind and as her memory toggles, she is yet again united with her high school boyfriend. Their relationship had always been a bad timing in the past but life is all about second chances and Annie had the choice to start over. But, just as they start to get along, her pre-accident life comes back calling. Amidst all this, Annie also discovers an old recipe book bequeathed to her by her grandmother, long ago, through which she aims to rekindle her passion for cooking. How will Annie navigate her way through the dual life her accident has led her to? A calm and elegant story authored by Susan Wiggs.

4. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
A graduate student from Vermont, Zachary Ezra Rawlins, discovers a strange book. The book contains a variety of odd yet captivating stories about key collectors, lovelorn prisoners, nameless acolytes and more. But the weird part is, he finds a story from his own childhood recorded in the book. Seeking for answers to his bewildering questions regarding the book, Zach comes to find a few important clues such as a bee, a key, and a sword. These clues lead him through many unexpected locations before finally arriving at an ancient library far beneath the surface of the earth. This place is a poetic blend where one can find lost cities, stories whispered by the dead, and lovers who pass notes under doors and across time. To honor the question of his purpose in his own life as well in the book, he must venture through the labyrinth of a library that expands like an ocean, but not alone. Along with Mirable, the protector of the place and Dorian a handsome yet fickle minded man, Zach must venture through the lost world. A beautiful love story written by Erin Morgenstern.

5. Greenglass House by Kate Milford
The Creaky Smuggler’s Inn, set on the cliffs above the river Skid wrack, is always quiet during the winter season. The Innkeeper’s twelve-year-old son, Milo, aims to spend his vacation time relaxing in the warmth of the inn while the icy weather howled outside. But on the first night of the vacation, guests walk through their doors one after the other bell, triggering Milo’s curiosity and his imaginative ideas. As the number of guests increase, objects go missing, Milo and the cook’s daughter, Meddy decipher clues about the secrets, the guests and the story of the Greenglass House which surely beholds plenty of mysteries that Milo and Meddy have loads of thrill uncovering. A perfect brew of mystery and fantasy authored by Kate Milford.

6. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
In Sarah Penner’s debut novel, set in 1791 February London, Nella sells her knowledge of herbs and healing for darker yet a justiying purpose. She sells well-disguised poison to women who are desperate to be free from the men of the house. Her business thrives secretively and successfully with set rules to protect both her business as well as her customers, but everything is at peril when her new patron turns out to be a twelve-year-old girl named Eliza Fanning. Eliza’s little actions threaten to expose many names of their customers. Moving forward to the present day, an aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary by herself, credits to her husband’s infidelity. While taking a mindless stroll along Thames, Caroline spots an old Apothecary vial which links to the unsolved Apothecary murders that haunted London almost two centuries ago. As Caroline digs further into the history and research of the Apothecary, her life tangles up with Nella as well as Eliza’s marking a perilous journey for all of them. The more you know the more in danger you are. A compelling story that beautifully touches topics such as motherhood and the struggles of women, written by Sarah Penner.