NOTE: Portions of this post first appeared in the Roswell Daily Record.
Tis the season for scifi romance holiday tales involving alien Santas and the like! I’ve been seeing these titles coming for the last six weeks or so and here are a few of my favorites for your holiday reading pleasure.
A Gift for Nicholas (Horned Holidays) was a heartwarming tale from Honey Phillips. A single mother, a little girl who is convinced she’s found the real Santa and a crashlanded, horned alien who needs to get off the planet in a hurry, plus a major snowstorm all add up to a heartwarming tale. Additionally, I’m always fascinated by colonies on alien worlds who’ve regressed or forgotten their true origins. This is a sequel of sorts to last year’s Krampus and the Crone by Ms. Phillips, which makes it even more fun (but the two books do stand alone.)
Stolen by the Alien Santa from Sophia Sebell takes the standpoint that Santa is actually an alien. Here’s her plot: “He caught me when I wasn’t sleeping. He knew that I was awake. Santa Claus has come to town, and it’s me he chose to take. I saw Santa when I was younger. I’m not taking about the Santa you grew up believing in. I’ve seen the REAL Santa, the one with the green skin and big horns. Every Christmas after that, I always stayed up and hoped to get a peek again. I wanted to confirm to myself that I wasn’t crazy and I actually saw him. This year, I got a little more than I bargained for when not only did I see him, he saw me. Now, I know for sure Santa isn’t a jolly fat dude in a red coat. He’s an angry beefcake of an alien in a red coat who doesn’t take kindly to people catching him off guard. ..” and the adventure and romance flow from there.
Cherish (Barbarians of the Sand Planet Book 7) by Tana Stone is a fairly common trope from an author with an established scifi romance series wherein there are babies or children from couples featured in previous books in the series and now the holidays have arrived. Here’s her description: “The bounty hunter babes are ready to celebrate Christmas, but are they ready to return to the sand planet where they were marooned? “ And there’s much more, including an all-female crew of mercenaries.
Aurora Caine and Nova Edwins are spinning an entire series about an alien race known as the Tedolarens. The first book is A Tedolaren for Christmas and the authors promise: “Dark sci-fi romance with a Christmas theme. Over the top and utterly ridiculous. Contains holiday lights, candy canes, and a happy ending in front of a fireplace.” Three books have been released so far, with a fourth to be released shortly. The plots center around the same group of heroines who encounter these aliens in the Colorado Rockies.
Christmas with the Klagan by Holly Hanzo is a scifi romance story with all the feels. The heroine is a human woman rescued by friendly aliens from other aliens who abducted her. With no way to get back to Earth, she and the other rescued women try to make the best of things, including a holiday celebration. A Klagan warrior tries to help and of course the two of them come together in a ‘snowstorm’. There is even a dessert at stake here! How much more holidayish can an SFR novel get?
Unblessed by R. L. Olvitt takes two people with secrets – a human woman and an alien – and puts them together in a small town on Earth at the holidays. As the final portion of the book’s blurb sums it up: “Naomi and R’visth are from worlds apart, yet they’ve been searching for the same things. When they meet, they’ll get the chance to have it all: love, belonging, and family—but only if their enemies don’t stop them first. Not everyone is happy to have an alien in their midst, and some people will stop at nothing to get what they want.”
Earth Christmas for the Alien by C. Y. Croc is a short, light hearted tale about an alien with amnesia, a child who believes him to be Santa and the ensuing complicationsd. It’s on my To Be Read List for sure.
Kelley Armstrong’s A Stitch in Time series has been going strong for a while and this year she released Snowstorms & Sleigh Bells, a holiday novella. Here’s the plot: “It’s a Victorian Christmas at Thorne Manor, and Rosalind Courtenay is staying far, far away from the door that leads to the twenty-first century. It took her four years to get back home, and she’s never going near the time stitch again. But her five-year-old son has other plans, and Rosalind finds herself plunged back into the modern world, where she decides to face her fears and give her family the holiday gift of a lifetime. Once again, Fate has other ideas, sending a blizzard to derail Rosalind’s cautious planning and toss them all into a whirlwind of savage snowstorms, spectral sleigh bells and, perhaps, a Christmas ghost or two.”
The paranormal romance genre has its Christmas tales as well and A Christmas Witch by Juniper Kerry was a good, short read for the holiday. There’s an element of time travel as well. Kim Fielding is one of my autobuy authors and her holiday tales are some of my favorites. A Very Genre Christmas was a delight and a good addition to my collection. Set in the 1950’s, the book’s main character is a private detective who has to cope with characters and beings from other times and places dropping into our world. It’s noirish and fun. One of my favorites, author Zoe Chant ,is an endlessly inventive author and her Unicorn for Christmas deals with an undercover unicorn shifter filling in for Santa and falling for a charming elf. And Eve Langlais spins a great story in Dear Satan (Welcome to Hell Book 11) where if you spell Santa‘s name wrong, guess who gets your Christmas list?
Additional titles which released after I’d done the post for the RDR:
Christmas Cookies in Space by Melisse Aires
Babs Claus by Linda Mooney
Home for the Holidays with GRR by Zeta Star
Chimera for Christmas by Ursa Dax
Wishing you Happy Holidays and many hours of reading enjoyment.
