‘Tis the Damn Season: holiday romances for a winter week on the Emerald Coast

Some people go home for the holidays. Some people go to the beach. On the Emerald Coast you can do a little of both: a slow December week in Destin or along 30A, a sweater over your swimsuit, and a holiday romance that makes you believe in second chances.

These three Christmas love stories are for every Swiftie who knows “’tis the damn season” by heart, and for every romance reader who wants a happy ending under the mistletoe.

Which holiday romance is best if you are going home for Christmas?

The Holiday Swap, by Maggie Knox, is the one to read if going home is complicated. Identical twins swap lives twelve days before Christmas, according to the publisher’s description. It starts when chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the Los Angeles set of her reality baking show and loses her sense of taste and smell, which she needs as a judge.

The publisher sums it up in one line: “All they want for Christmas is a different life.” If “’tis the damn season” is your song, this is your book: two sisters, one swap, and the life each of them could have had.

Which holiday romance has the most dates?

The Twelve Dates of Christmas, by Jenny Bayliss, has twelve of them, in twenty-three days. Kate Turner, 34, is a designer who bakes on the side in the small English town of Blexford, and she has little interest in romance, according to Penguin Random House.

Then her best friend signs her up for a dating agency that promises a match before Christmas. Each date goes worse than the last, the whole town follows along, and the love she needs may have been close by all along. Friends-to-lovers fans, this one is for you.

Which holiday romance is about found family?

The Christmas Orphans Club, by Becca Freeman, is about the people you choose. Hannah and Finn have no family to go home to, so they have spent every Christmas together since college, joined in New York City by Priya and Theo, according to Penguin Random House.

This year, Finn announces he is moving to Los Angeles, and the group has to face that this Christmas could be their last together. Bring tissues and someone to text afterward.

Which one should you pack?

Where can you read a holiday romance on the Emerald Coast?

Henderson Beach State Park in Destin is the closest thing to a white Christmas on the Gulf: its shoreline is anchored by “30-foot, snow-white sand dunes,” according to Florida State Parks. The park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset every day of the year, and day-use reservations have been required for all visitors since May 15, 2026.

Bring a blanket, a thermos and one of these books. The buttons on this page take you to each of them on Amazon.

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