Hello, everyone, and welcome to the final day of the Five Fall Favorites event, hosted by Katja Labonte. This is an absolutely massive event, so you don’t want to miss all of the goings-on. Visit Katja’s blog, linked above, to find the full list of participating bloggers, and don’t miss the other bloggers in Team Hedgehog, of whom are listed at the end of this post.
There is also a giveaway and a daily opportunity to grab some free books provided by some of the bloggers. Learn more about the giveaway here and visit Katja’s blog, linked above, to learn which books are free today.
Today’s category is books featuring favorite reads of 2026 (so far, because there’s still time to find more). Read on to see my recommendations. Have you read any of these or are any on your TBR?
UNDER THE MISTLETOE BY PENNY ZELLER
Review Snippet: Welcome to Cloverdale Falls, home of a 50ft chicken statue, geriatric private investigators, and sweet romance.
Blurb:
**Great American Family Book Club Pick
He’s a nerdy tourist needing a vacation.
She’s a bed and breakfast employee with a broken heart.
Love is the last thing they expect to find this Christmas.
Introvert Braxton Wertz needs a vacation, but his trip to the small town of Cloverdale Falls is anything but restful when he finds himself not only falling for the sweet and bubbly Gracely, but also in the crosshairs of geriatric private investigators…and their numerous shenanigans.
Recovering from a painful breakup, extrovert Gracely Eklund needs a vacation. Where better to spend her Christmas than her aunt and uncle’s charming bed and breakfast? Her time managing the business comes with a few surprises, one of those being the nerdy and lovable Braxton.
He’s from Florida. She’s from the Rocky Mountain West. Can Christmastime, an incomplete photo album, and a quirky town with its equally quirky residents bring two unsuspecting hearts together?
Take a trip to Cloverdale Falls in this hilarious Christian rom-com, the second in the Small Town Shenanigans Series. Under the Mistletoe can be read as a standalone or enjoyed in conjunction with Recipe for Love.
IN HONOR’S DEFENSE BY KAREN WITEMEYER
Review Snippet: The faith element in this story was beautiful.
Blurb:
He’s Faced Countless Perils on the Battlefield, but Nothing so Dangerous as Falling in Love.
Luke Davenport has been fighting all his life–for respect, for country, and for those unable to fight for themselves. But now that his Horsemen brothers are domesticated, he’s left alone to battle the wildness within. When an opportunity arises to take a job on his own, tracking down a group of rustlers, he jumps at the chance.
Damaris Baxter has mastered the art of invisibility. Plain and quiet, she hides in books and needlework, content to be overlooked. Until her brother dies suddenly, leaving her custody of her nephew. She moves to Texas to care for Nathaniel, determined to create the family for herself that she never thought she’d have and to give him the family he desperately needs.
When Nate finds himself knee-deep in trouble, Luke’s attempt to protect him leaves Damaris feeling indebted to the Horseman. But suspicions grow regarding the mysterious death of Damaris’s brother. And the more questions they ask, the more danger appears, threatening the family Luke may be unable to live without.
MAIL-ORDER DUCHESS by MISTY M. BELLER
Review Snippet: Sometimes, you can’t escape heartbreak.
Blurb:
Five sons of an English duke, all raised in the Rocky Mountains…
A marriage born of duty. A love neither expected.
When Enoch Balfour’s eldest brother tragically dies, the weight of family responsibility falls on his shoulders. Now this Montana rancher must train for his role as the next Duke of Clarence—and marry the mail-order bride his brother sent for. Hardened by loss, Enoch has no intention of opening his heart to a stranger, but duty demands he produce an heir.
Mandie Beaumont is a desperate young widow fleeing the sinister advances of her brother-in-law. After arriving in the Montana Territory to marry a man she’s never met, an accident leaves her robbed of her recent memories—memories that conceal a devastating secret. When she discovers she’s carrying a child conceived through betrayal and violence, Mandie fears rejection and ruin. Yet, in Enoch, she finds an unexpected protector whose fierce gentleness makes her long to trust again.
Though Mandie’s charm and resilience begin to thaw Enoch’s guarded heart, he struggles with his fear of loss. When Mandie’s past resurfaces, Enoch must risk everything to save her. If he fails, Mandie will be torn from him—and the love they’ve begun to embrace could be lost forever.
FALLING FOR THE WINGED WITCH BY SARAH BERAN
Review Snippet: I didn’t know I needed a Jack and the Beanstalk x The Wild Swans mashup – villain style – but apparently I did.
Blurb:
A widowed queen trapped by her past.
A giant who just wants to be left alone.
A fowl curse that could cost them both everything.
Lindy never wanted to get married or have children—especially not seven stepsons old enough to be her brothers and a doddering royal husband. Just when it seems like things couldn’t possibly get any worse, the king suddenly dies, and her sinister reputation for casting curses means that all eyes and fingers are pointed at her. Rather than support their new mother, her stepsons seem determined to do everything they can to make her life miserable. When the youngest fills her room with water fowl as a prank, Lindy finally decides to take things into her own hands—and everything goes wrong.
Atlas lives with his head in the clouds, and he likes it that way. His ancestral home is hidden away so high in the mountains that it’s practically inaccessible. But somehow the secret has slipped, and he keeps chasing away unwanted visitors. After the latest break-in ends with his prized goose missing, Atlas is forced to do the one thing never climb down the beanstalk.
Unfortunately, the scoundrel who took his goose is now a swan, and the only way to get him to tell Atlas where she is is to help the witch who cast the curse in the first place. The nettlesome woman won’t give him the time of day, refusing to speak until the sun goes down. When she does, it’s to instruct him in the most ridiculous task he’s ever heard of.
But Atlas really wants to get his goose and go home, and if knitting is the way to achieve that, so be it. If only the task didn’t threaten to knit his heart to hers in the process…
Falling for the Winged Witch is a combined retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk and The Wild Swans, featuring tropes such as Unlikely Allies, Found Family, and Opposites Attract.
DRAGONSPELL by DONITA K. PAUL
Review Snippet: DragonSpell was one of the first fantasy books I ever read.
Blurb:
One Dragon Egg Holds the Key to the Future.
Once a slave, Kale is given the unexpected opportunity to become a servant to Paladin. Yet this young girl has much to learn about the difference between slavery and service.
A Desperate Search Begins…
A small band of Paladin’s servants rescue Kale from danger but turn her from her destination: The Hall, where she was to be trained. Feeling afraid and unprepared, Kale embarks on a perilous quest to find the meech dragon egg stolen by the foul Wizard Risto. First, she and her comrades must find Wizard Fenworth. But their journey is threatened when a key member of the party is captured, leaving the remaining companions to find Fenworth, attempt an impossible rescue, and recover the egg whose true value they have not begun to suspect…
Weaving together memorable characters, daring adventure, and a core of eternal truth, Dragonspell is a finely crafted and welcome addition to the corpus of fantasy fiction.
Team Hedgehog
Myself at Madi’s Musings
