by Donna Hayes, President, CEO of Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.

All of us at Harlequin love the holidays – and we know our readers do too – which means we publish lots of holiday themed books at this time of year. I thought I’d tell you about a few of them, just to get you in the spirit!

At our bookstore we decided to highlight our holiday editorial by creating our very own North Pole, filled with great holiday books. The range is eclectic, from Victorian Yuletide to celebrating with Vampires—and not to stop there, we created a North Pole book trailer as well!

Here are a few of my faves for this holiday season:

New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery is back with a brand-new Silhouette Desire, HIGH-POWERED, HOT-BLOODED! Our final Man of the Month is Duncan Patrick, CEO Scrooge. His whole life turns around when he meets sweet kindergarten teacher Annie McCoy. I have to give kudos to the art department for creating such a beautiful image to present the wonderful story inside. This is the first time in years a Desire cover hasn’t been red.

Desire also has a new book by New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer in December as well! THE MAVERICK is a brand-new story in Diana’s Long-Tall Texans series. Click below to read the first chapter:

If you’re in the mood to be a bit naughty, the Harlequin Blaze line has a few steamy holiday reads from stocking-stuffer sized short stories in BETTER NAUGHTY THAN NICE by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jill Shalvis, and Rhonda Nelson to a new Blaze Historical—TWELVE NIGHTS by Hope Tarr.

Finally, it will be no surprise that the Christmas spirit is strong in our Steeple Hill line of inspirational romance novels. Holiday-themed stories can be found in all three Love Inspired imprints, from contemporaries, historical, or romantic suspense. There are too many books to name them all, so be sure to visit the Steeple Hill section of eHarlequin.com for book descriptions, excerpts and more. And if you still think it’s a bit too early to be talking Christmas, you can find Thanksgiving-set stories in A FAMILY FOR THANKSGIVING by Patricia Davids and THE THANKSGIVING TARGET by Laura Scott!

Don’t forget—these make fantastic stocking stuffers, so you can share the lovely holiday spirit with your fellow readers.

Do you like giving books as presents? Do you try to introduce your friends and family to new authors or give them a book by an author they already enjoy?

by Donna Hayes, President, CEO of Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.

Happy Holidays, Dear Readers!

Too soon? You haven’t even planned your Thanksgiving menu yet? I don’t want to rush you through the holidays, but because of how many wonderful Christmas books we have available now, we’ve got Christmas on our minds! Between the business of prepping for the holidays and deadlines at work, I love being able to grab an hour and settle back in my comfortable reading chair and delve into the warmth and happiness that the holidays promise.

Let me share a few of our highlights.

I have to start with our Queen of the Holidays, Debbie Macomber, who loves Christmas. Don’t believe us? Check out the video below and you’ll see!

Did I mention that Debbie loves Christmas? THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS is Debbie’s new book, but don’t miss her wide selection of holiday titles!

(And those are just the November releases! If you missed Debbie’s Cedar Cove days, the entire town of Port Orchard transformed itself into Cedar Cove, read about it here.)

Tomorrow I’ll share some more highlights from our Christmas editorial. I have to confess though, that there are two things beyond books that are a must-have in my house every Christmas—the fabulous Vince Guaraldi soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, which I could listen to over and over again—and do (and I always have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree in my back yard)—and the original video of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I love the music, I love the sheer goofiness of it and I love the message.

Do you have any of your own must-have traditions to get you into the spirit of the season?