**That chill is in the air. I bundle into ten layers and keep my hair down today, covering it with a hat, crocheted by myself on a dreary day some time ago. I wrap my scarf tighter and ready myself to go outside. It’s not at the point of heavy wools, but I do need to bundle to stay warm. I do some chores outside then eye my holiday decorations in the corner of my sitting room. Maybe not yet, but that is no reason to avoid the winter reads.**

It feels like I just posted my fall recommendations list, but here we are with my winter one. I considered waiting until December, or at least the end of November, but I know people decorate early, so I thought I could give some recommendations.

• Starting with Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards. This is a ya thriller about a girl who falls asleep in class right before summer break and wakes up six months later in winter, with no memory of the time in between. I read this back in 2016/2017 and loved it. It was also one of the first thrillers I read, but I did really enjoy this one and found it interesting to watch everything get uncovered.
• By the same author, we have Five Total Strangers. This one follows a group of teens stuck at the airport due to a snow storm who decide to rent a car together. It turns out that none of them know each other and that someone may not be who they say they are. This was a fun snow storm read perfect for winter.
• Next up, we have The Fear by Natasha Preston. Natasha Preston is one of my favorite authors, so I couldn’t not recommend this one. This is a story that takes place in winter where a town of teens follow a trend of posting their biggest fear on social media. But these teens start dying in the way that they fear so the main character has to figure out what is going on. This was an interesting idea and it had a pretty good twist.
• Moving away from thrillers, we have The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody. I read this one years ago, but it follows a girl stuck at the airport. She recently lost her best friend and accidentally swaps phones with a boy from the airport. She has to track him down to get her phone back, which has one last unread text from her best friend. This is a ya contemporary that takes place right around New Year’s. I really enjoyed it when I read it but don’t see many people talking about it.
• This next one is a series, and honestly I feel like it can be a great read for winter, fall, or spring. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken is a story about an illness that is killing kids before the age of ten. If they make it past that, they gain abilities and are put in camps. Ruby, our protagonist, escapes and befriends a group of other teens as they travel in search of some place safe. I really loved this series and it has a sort of nostalgic feeling when I think about it. It has a sort of found family trope and it was so fun getting to watch these characters.
• Moving on to my two holiday recommendations, we first have Faking Christmas by Cindy Steel. This is an indie published romance about two English teachers that fake-date at a lodge where she is staying with her family. I’m not one to love adult books, especially indie published ones, but this was really cute and I loved the setting. I try not to recommend indie published books in my posts because I would love to do an entire post discussing the ones I have read, but I want to read a few more before I do and I did like this one.
• I don’t really read holiday books, so if you have a recommendation, let me know. My only other one is The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand. I saw this online and thought the Christmas Carol retelling following a teen girl sounded interesting. I was a bit apprehensive though because I heard it was a bit cheesy. I loved this book. Yes, it was a bit cheesy, but it was also such a feel-good, fun read. I actually really loved this one and highly recommend it for the holidays.

That wraps up my winter recommendations. Please leave your own recommendations down below, especially if it is a holiday book. I need to find more! I hope you all find a great winter read.

xoxo,

Just another reader