If Hallmark Christmas movies [1] are your go-to during the holiday season but you subscribe to the belief that the book is usually better than the movie version of a story, there's good news. Many of your favourite Hallmark Christmas movies either started as books or have since been turned into novelizations. Now you can picture your favourite Hallmark leading ladies and men [2] as you escape between the pages of these Hallmark movies in book form. Snuggle up with a cup of hot cocoa, turn on the Christmas music and learn some new things about your favourite characters and charming towns that simply couldn't be fit into a two-hour television movie. Keep reading for 10 Hallmark Christmas movies you can read this holiday season.
Jingle Bell Bride
New for the 2020 Hallmark Christmas movie season [3], Jingle Bell Bride follows wedding planner Jessica Perez to a remote town in Alaska in search of a rare flower for a celebrity client. Thanks to mechanical difficulties, her return home is delayed, giving her a chance to take part in the local holiday festivities with local botanist Matt Holden and his family. She thought making it home in time for the wedding was her Christmas wish but is she really wishing for something more now? This one is based on 2017 novel The Jingle Bell Bride [4] by Scarlet Wilson.
Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses
After putting her dreams of being an interior designer on hold to raise her son Max, single mother Abbey Fuller eagerly jumps at the chance to tackle a small design job decorating the estate of successful businessman Nick Sinclair. Of course, Nick has plenty of money to throw at the situation but absolutely no Christmas spirit. Can Abbey teach Nick about the magic of Christmas and make her dreams of being a designer come true? This movie is based on the 2015 book Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses [5] by Jenny Hale.
The Mistletoe Inn
Based on the 2015 novel The Mistletoe Inn [6] by Richard Paul Evans, the heroine of this Hallmark movie is Kim Rossi, who dreams of being a published romance author even though her own romantic life is a bit of a mess. Fuelled by her latest breakup, she signs up for a romance writing workshop shortly before Christmas where her favourite romance author H.T. Cowell will be speaking in public for the first time in more than a decade. Once at the retreat, she meets fellow writer Zeke who helps her step out of her comfort zone, both in life and in her writing.
Christmas Joy
Market researcher Joy Holbrook is on the verge of a big promotion at her job in D.C. when she gets an urgent phone call to return home to Crystal Falls, North Carolina to help her Aunt Ruby recover from surgery. What she doesn't expect is to run into her former crush Ben Andrews. Forced to work together on the town's holiday festivities, Joy finds her career-focussed heart start longing for family and home. This movie is based on the 2016 novel Christmas Joy [8] by Nancy Naigle.
Coming Home For Christmas
Lizzie Richfield finds herself in a bit of a love triangle when she lands a job as a house manager for the Ashford Estate and begins planning one final Christmas Eve gala for the Marley family before they sell the family estate. Brothers Kip Marley and Robert Marley couldn't be more different. Kip never met a party he didn't like, and Robert is all-business. Toss in Pippa, the 80-year-old matriarch who doesn't want to sell the house, and Kip and Robert's sister Sloane, who's mysteriously shown up without her husband, and you've got quite a mess. Can Lizzie successfully navigate old family feuds while also untangling her own suddenly complicated love life? This one is based on the 2013 book Coming Home For Christmas [9] by Jenny Hale.
The Christmas Cottage
Lacey Quinn doesn't believe in the legend of the Christmas cottage, which is said to bring true love to anyone who stays there, but she's happy to decorate it for her best friend's Christmas Eve wedding. When she finds herself stuck together with her former flame, Ean Callahan, while a blizzard rages outside, she begins to see the sharp contrast between Ean's family values and her current boyfriend Roger's dedication to his career. She's always been a workaholic right alongside Roger, but is the magic of the Christmas cottage trying to show her another path? This movie is based on the 2015 book The Christmas Cottage [10] by Samantha Chase.
A December Bride
Everyone loves a Christmas wedding, right? Maybe not Layla O'Reilly, whose cousin is marrying Layla's ex-fiancé. Dreading attending the wedding alone, Layla accepts an invitation to be Seth Murphy's date, her ex's best friend and the person responsible for introducing the bride and groom. Seth gets carried away at the wedding and announces he and Layla are engaged, but it's not all bad because news of their impending (fake) nuptials convinces a big client to take a look at Layla's fledgling home-stageing business. While Seth helps her professionally, can he also convince her to give him a real chance romantically? This movie is based on the 2013 book A December Bride [11] by Denise Hunter.
Marry Me at Christmas
Based on the 2016 book Marry Me at Christmas [12] by Susan Mallery, this Hallmark movie is about bridal boutique owner Maddie Krug, who thinks she's simply organising a Christmas wedding for a last-minute bride in the picturesque Sierra Nevada mountain town of Fool's Gold. Little does she know the bride is the sister of action movie star Johnny Blake. Although his financial contributions to the wedding are appreciated, his opinions on everything else about the wedding are initially off-putting. As they spend more time together, however, things start to shift. Just as they're beginning to fall for one another, a tabloid story about Johnny and his co-star and Maddie's business partner's attempts to promote their boutique threaten to ruin everything.