Christmas YA Fiction

Only a week until Christmas!  Here are ten YA holiday reads for the season!

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston - Sophie wants one thing for Christmas-a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship. Cue devastation. Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents' house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That's when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. And a screaming baby. When Griffin turns up unexpectedly and begs for a second chance, Sophie feels more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she's started to have feelings for someone else . . . Someone who is definitely not available. This is going to be the worst Christmas break ever... or is it?

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand - On Christmas Eve five years ago, seventeen-year-old Holly Chase was visited by three Ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she'd become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways. She didn't. And then she died.
Now she's stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge--as their latest Ghost of Christmas Past. So far, Holly's afterlife has been miserable. But this year's Scrooge is different. This year's Scrooge might change everything...

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan - 16-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on her favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first guy to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges.
What follows is a whirlwind romance as Dash and Lily trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations all across New York City. But can their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions, or will their scavenger hunt end in a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?  Book 1 of 2 in the Dash and Lily series 

Decked With Holly by Marni Bates - Spending Christmas vacation on a cruise with her two cousins from hell isn't Holly's idea of a good time. And when in a moment of seasick-fueled desperation she lurches into an open suite--she's greeted with an eyeful of pepper spray. The culprit? A gorgeous guy calling himself Nick. But when Holly goes to make her exit, she gets the shock of her life: a corridor crammed with screaming teenage fans. Because Nick just happens to be Dominic Wyatt, drummer for ReadySet--one of the hottest bands in America.
Suddenly rumors are swirling, and Holly's face is captured on countless phones and plastered all over the Internet. But the band can't risk a scandal destroying their family-friendly image, so Dominic convinces Holly to be his fake girlfriend--just for two weeks. How bad could it be to be fauxmantically involved with one of the cutest rockstars on the planet? Holly's about to find out. . .

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle - Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. Thanks to three of today’s bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses.

Love on the Lifts by Rachel Hawthorne - Winter Break super-secret perfect cocoa recipe:
8 oz steamed whole milk
(no skim! doesn't work!)
2 tbsp. dark cocoa powder (big scoops)
1 tbsp. sugar (can't be too sweet)
4 dried, crushed mint leaves
(or 1 tbsp. mint syrup)
Stir thoroughly. Add mint swizzle stick. Combine with cute ski instructor, or brother's cute best friend, or cute guy you never noticed was so cute...Enjoy.

Saving Red by Sonya Sones - Right before winter break, fourteen-year-old Molly Rosenberg reluctantly volunteers to participate in Santa Monica's annual homeless count, just to get her school's community service requirement out of the way. But when she ends up meeting Red, a spirited homeless girl only a few years older than she is, Molly makes it her mission to reunite her with her family in time for Christmas. This turns out to be extremely difficult -- because Red refuses to talk about her past. There are things Molly won't talk about either. Like the awful thing that happened last winter. She may never be ready to talk about that. Not to Red, or to Cristo, the soulful boy she meets while riding the Ferris wheel one afternoon.

Secret Santa by Sabrina James - Noelle, a hopeless romantic, just knows that her gifts have to be from her senior crush, Charlie...don't they? And geeky Froggy thinks the game is the perfect way to get super-popular Celia to fall for him...except she thinks his gifts are from Jake, the school's resident bad boy, and starts to crush on him! Meanwhile, queen bee Shawna is furious that someone is giving her boyfriend romantic gifts, and enlists über-dork David to help her find out who it is. But David wants something in return for his help: a date with Shawna! Romantic mishaps abound, B180 but all is revealed the night of the Winter Dance, where there's more than one surprise waiting under the mistletoe! This funny, sweet novel is perfect for the holidays and the ideal stocking stuffer. Book 1 of 7 in the Holiday Romantic Comedies 

Stealing Christmas by Matthew Sullivan - Seventh-grader Mitch Murphy never wanted anything as much as he wanted a PlayStation 4. And he was on his way to getting one for Christmas, too. But when his cousins get into a blowout food fight on Thanksgiving, Mitch gets caught in the collateral damage, and they they all lose their Christmas presents as punishment. Stripped of the gift he spent the past year obsessing over, all hope is lost for Mitch ... that is, until he discovers where all of the their presents are being stashed. Now Mitch must corral his motley crew of cousins to help him pull off a heist to steal their Christmas--and his PlayStation--back.

The Winter Boyfriend by Christina Benjamin - The last thing Chloe Price wants for Christmas is a boyfriend. She's still trying to get over the last boy who broke her heart. Thankfully, she has plans to spend her winter break getting over him. The only thing Ethan Hall wants for Christmas is to spend time with his family. But since his older brother, Owen, is the only family he has left, Ethan finds himself tagging along to crash another family's holiday, so Owen can spend it with his girlfriend, who just happens to be Chloe's sister. The connection is instant when Ethan and Chloe meet. It seems they've both found something they never knew they were looking for in each other, but their fragile relationship is tested when Chloe's ex-boyfriend makes it clear that he wants her back. Do Ethan and Chloe have more than chemistry or can they chalk their attraction up to just a few mistletoe moments?