“Holigay” is a term I picked up from Autostraddle, which was the first place I really found a home when I came out. They are still what I consider peak lesbian culture. Every year when the end-of-calendar holidays come around, they put out a bunch of Holigay posts, and I think it’s lovely.
These are Sapphic books that take place during the holiday season, and include wlw relationships (of course). I’ve included a filtered list from my Sapphic Reads database below with just the holigay books. Here are a few reviews of my favorites.
Set the Record Straight, by Hannah Bonham-Young, read by Lori Prince and Jenn Lee, 2022. This is comfort Sapphic romance. This is for those of us who are here for the wlw relationship. This is sexy and soft and you get to see them in love almost from the get go. But it’s also real, and their lives aren’t perfect, and they have family trouble, and jobs, and worries, and all that. It’s just, their worries aren’t about each other, and when they are, they fucking talk about them like adults. You know those romances where they fight to be together, and then finally, at the end, they are, and then the book ends? That is not this book. Leave your cynicism at the door.
It’s a Fabulous Life, by Kelly Farmer
Yes, it’s a blatant rip off of It’s a Wonderful Life, but better because it is Sapphic and the angels are drag queens! The main character is named Bailey George (see what she did there?!) and she wants to escape her small and lovely Christmas-themed town, but when she gets her wish, she realizes she never wanted to leave in the first place. Saccharine, yes. Perfect for a sappy holigay story? Also yes.
Three fake dating holigay books!
Yes, that’s right. Boy takes fake girlfriend home for the holidays and lo! He has a cute sister and the two women fall for each other, but what can we do, I’m fake dating your brother! It’s a time-worn tale because it really sells itself. The Christmas Swap, by Talia Samuels, Kiss Her Once for Me, by Alison Cochran, and Make You mine this Christmas, by Lizzie Huxley-Jones. You can’t go wrong, they are all fine books. Make it a gay season and read all three!
Save the Christmas tree farm!
There are two (three, see below) books wherein the main characters (one a local lumberjane and the other an escapee returning to the scene of her childhood) end up having to save the Christmas tree farm. Yup. But also, hey that’s fun! Season of Love, by Helena Greer, and In the Event of Love, by Courtney Kae. Actually pretty different, as it turns out. Edit: another one! Christmas in Mistletoe, by Clare Lydon, where we save yet another Christmas tree farm, this one in England, through the power of music and believing in yourself (and I really liked it). No lumberjanes in this one, and really the saving isn’t central to the conflict, more a byproduct.
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