My Thanksgiving Tradition: Holiday Romance Anthologies

Do you know the very best activity for Thanksgiving weekend? Well, of course, it’s reading. The answer is pretty much always reading. However, there is a book category so tailor-made, so perfect for Thanksgiving weekend that it needs to be shouted from the rooftops. As soon as the Thanksgiving meal has been eaten and cleaned up, when all the rest of the family is set up for hours of football on the TV, it begins. Holiday romance anthology season has arrived.

By the time holiday romance anthology season has landed (at approximately 4pm on the fourth Thursday in November), there are hours and hours of cooking in my rearview mirror. On most Thanksgivings, I’ve been on my feet since 6am, engaged with my family for longer than anticipated, and very honestly, I have probably indulged in a bit too much wine. And thus, “me time” has arrived. There are love stories to be read and seasonal goodness to dive into on my ereader. Thank goodness for escapism and badass heroines.

Holiday romance anthologies are collections of two or more short, novella-length romances. Sometimes the anthology has a theme and sometimes the theme is simply the holidays. Either way, the self-contained short stories can be read while your family is watching the game or in between Small Business Saturday shopping and cookie making. Each year, I pick an anthology that contains a story by a beloved author but also introduces me to the prose and writing style of a new-to-me author. Even if the novellas don’t match my romance catnip exactly, I’m guaranteed to like something about the story, the holiday theme. Even better, holiday anthologies are perfect for reading sprints due to their smallish word count.