5 Books to Put You in the Holiday Spirit

In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of books guaranteed to put you in the holiday spirit. These books celebrate the joy of Christmas, the warmth and chaos of family bonds, and the beauty of love, with some even featuring mouthwatering recipes to inspire your holiday cooking. 

Read our recommendations below.

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo’s stunning 2024 novel is the perfect Christmas romance novel to set the mood for the holiday. It brings together two characters who do not realize just how intertwined their fates are. 

Christmas is approaching and it doesn’t look good for Biodun Gomez. An on-air personality at Reels FM, she’s having issues at work; her rent is overdue; and she has a massive crush on a co-worker who is not the least bit romantically interested in her. She’s desperate for some Christmas romance. On the other hand, there is Kunle Bakare, a young man determined to turn a new leaf. A former ladies’ man, he now aspires to head his family’s company, Falcon PLC, proving to everyone that he’s not merely a spoilt, sheltered child. To do this, he must earn the votes of the company’s board members and succeed his mother as chief executive officer. 

Biodun and Kunle are bound by a twelve-year-old secret, which is now suddenly revealed to the whole world. Suddenly, both find their careers threatened by the scandal, and must face the situation with resilience and, of course, with love. 

Spanning three continents, Butter Honey Pig Bread tells the story of Kambirinachi and her twin daughters, Kehinde and Taiye. Kambirinachi believes that she is an Ogbanje, or an Abiku. She has made the unnatural choice of staying alive to love her human family but lives in fear of the consequences of her decision. However, Kambirinachi and her two daughters become estranged from one another because of a trauma that Kehinde experiences in childhood, which leads her to move away and cut off all contact. She ultimately finds her path as an artist and seeks to raise a family of her own, despite her fear that she won’t be a good mother. Meanwhile, Taiye is plagued by guilt for what her sister suffered and also runs away, attempting to fill the void of that lost relationship with casual flings with women. She eventually discovers a way out of her stifling loneliness through a passion for food and cooking. 

But now, after more than a decade of living apart, Taiye and Kehinde have returned home to Lagos. It is here that the three women must face each other and address the wounds of the past if they are to reconcile and move forward. Butter Honey Pig Bread is a story of choices and their consequences, of motherhood, of the malleable line between the spirit and the mind, of finding new homes and mending old ones, of voracious appetites, of queer love, of solid friendship, faith, and above all, family. This book features detailed recipes for a variety of dishes, including puff-puff and jollof rice, perfect for sharing with your family this holiday season! 

Hannah Bailey has never known her father, a Nigerian entrepreneur who had a brief relationship with her white mother. As a result, Hannah has always struggled with a sense of uncertainty about her identity. When her father passes away, she receives an unexpected invitation to Nigeria for his funeral. Although she wants to resent the man who abandoned her, she finds herself curious about who he was and the place he came from. Determined to uncover answers, Hannah boards a plane to Lagos, Nigeria. 

In Lagos, she meets the Jolades, her late father’s prestigious family. While some welcome her with open arms, others question her place among them. As the chaotic days leading up to the funeral unfold, Hannah becomes entangled in family secrets, immerses herself in a culture she never expected to understand or cherish, and encounters a man who steals her heart, helping her see herself in a new light. This is more than just a love story—it is a journey of self-discovery and an exploration of the complexities of family ties. 

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson follows the relationship of two young Black Britons who meet at a pub in Southeast London. Both creatives—one a dancer and the other a photographer—attempt to leave their imprint in a community that alternately accepts and rejects them. But even when two people appear to be meant for each other, fear and violence have the power to separate them. This book is perfect for the season because it highlights the power of love in various forms.  

Funmi, Enitan, and Zainab first meet at university in Nigeria and become friends for life despite their differences. Funmi is beautiful, brash, and determined; Enitan is homely and eager, seeking escape from her single mother’s smothering and needy love; Zainab is elegant and reserved, raised by her father’s first two wives after her mother’s death in childbirth. Their friendship is complicated but enduring, and over the course of the novel, the reader learns about their loves and losses. In this book, three once-inseparable college friends reunite in Lagos for the first time in 30 years. Obaro’s exciting debut novel explores the relationships between mothers and daughters, culture and class, sex and love, and the incredible tenacity of female friendship. The timeline jump from the present to the past is excellent for the nostalgia that comes with the end of the year.⎈