If you’re looking for some Hanukkah romance books to read this holiday season during the Festival of Lights then I’ve got you covered with this book list!
These are my recommendations for eight Hanukkah romance books – one you can read each of the eight nights in celebration of Hanukkah and happily-ever-afters.
So in addition to Christmas romance books, be sure to add these fun and romantic Hanukkah romance books to your TBR list to diversify your reading this holiday season.
*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Best Hanukkah Romance Books
The Matzah Ball
by Jean Meltzer
Oy! to the world
Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a shameful secret: she loves Christmas.
For a decade she’s hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach.
But when her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration suddenly runs dry.
Hanukkah’s not magical. It’s not merry. It’s not Christmas. Desperate not to lose her contract, Rachel’s determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy—Jacob Greenberg.
Though Rachel and Jacob haven’t seen each other since they were kids, their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah.
But as they spend more time together, Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah—and Jacob—in a way she never expected.
Maybe this holiday of lights will be the spark she needed to set her heart ablaze.
I’m in love with this Hanukkah romance book already just from the book blurb. What’s not to like when you have a romance author and an enemies to lovers story?!
I also love the juxtaposition that she loves Christmas and writes Christmas romance books 😊.
Three Holidays and a Wedding
by Uza Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley
As strangers and seatmates Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson fly to Toronto over the holidays—Maryam to her sister’s impromptu wedding, and Anna to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy family for the first time—neither expect that severe turbulence will scare them into confessing their deepest hopes and fears to one another.
At least they’ll never see each other again. And the love of Maryam’s life, Saif, wasn’t sitting two rows behind them hearing it all. Oops.
An emergency landing finds Anna, Saif, Maryam, and her sister’s entire bridal party snowbound at the quirky Snow Falls Inn in a picture-perfect town, where fate has Anna’s actor-crush filming a holiday romance.
As Maryam finds the courage to open her heart to Saif, and Anna feels the magic of being snowbound with an unexpected new love—both women soon realize there’s no place they’d rather be for the holidays.
I love the diversity of this Hanukkah romance book that not only explores Hanukkah and Christmas but Ramadan as well!
The Hallmark-esq small town and having people snowed in and forced to face their issues has me adding this to my TBR list pronto!
Love and Latkes
by Stacey Agdern
Batya Averman is ecstatic when a latke fry-off committee chooses her as its web designer—until she learns the event is in Rivertown, New York, the hometown she fled years ago.
But she’s no longer the girl with an embarrassing history and an unrequited crush on Abe Neumann.
This delicious competition is Batya’s chance to further her career, and this time she won’t run.
Abe Neumann can’t pass up the opportunity to enter the town’s latke contest. He dreams of throwing caution to the wind and leaving his accounting firm, opening a Jewish deli, and choosing his own happiness.
The prize money would bring him closer to making his dream a reality, but when Batya comes back to town, Abe remembers that a deli isn’t the only thing he’s wished for.
When the fry-off’s celebrity host has to pull out of the competition, Batya is determined to step up to the challenge.
This Hanukkah, can Abe fix the past and convince Batya that dreams, like latkes, are better when they’re shared?
Food and cooking are always a welcomed bonus to any romance book in my opinion but I love that this Hanukkah romance focuses on a latke contest while Batya and Abe finally come to terms with their past.
I also love when adult characters come face to face with the person they had a childhood crush on so I cannot wait to read this one.
Eight Nights of Flirting
by Hannah Reynolds
Shira Barbanel has a plan: this Hanukkah, she’s going to get a boyfriend. And she has the perfect candidate in mind—her great-uncle’s assistant, Isaac.
He’s reliable, brilliant, and of course, super hot. The only problem? Shira’s an absolute disaster when it comes to flirting.
Enter Tyler Nelson, Shira’s nemesis-slash-former-crush. As much as she hates to admit it, Tyler is the most charming and popular guy she knows. Which means he’s the perfect person to teach her how to win Isaac over.
When Shira and Tyler get snowed in together at Golden Doors, they strike a deal—flirting lessons for Shira in exchange for career connections for Tyler.
But as Shira starts to see the sweet, funny boy beneath Tyler’s playboy exterior, she realizes she actually likes hanging out with him. And that wasn’t part of the plan.
Amidst a whirl of snowy adventures, hot chocolate, and candlelight, Shira must learn to trust her heart to discover if the romance she planned is really the one that will make her happiest.
What’s not to love about this Hanukkah romance book that has so many of my favorite romance book tropes.
The holidays make a forced proximity romance so much fun and I cannot wait to see the sparks fly between Shira and Tyler when they get snowed in together.
But I also love the relationship coach aspect because we all know where Shira’s flirting lessons are headed!
Eight Cozy Nights
by Julia Wolf
It’ll take a miracle for the two of them to last more than eight nights…
Larissa: Hanukkah’s never been my favorite holiday. In fact, I usually forget it’s happening.
This year though, despite nearly losing my life to my tall drink of water new neighbor, I’m in the mood to celebrate. Only I can’t seem to find my menorah…
Yo: Hanukkah’s one of my favorite holidays. I look forward to celebrating every December.
This year could be more interesting than ever, when a gorgeous, curvy (and grumpy) woman moves in next door. Only I seem to have misplaced my candles…
Together these two opposites will light up the night.
This Hanukkah romance is a novella so there’s no excuse not to read it during the season!
I’m so excited to meet the curvy heroine and love that it’s a neighbors to lovers, opposites attract love story.
Lighting the Flames
by Sarah Wendell
Genevieve and Jeremy have known each other since they were seven, and have been summertime best friends at Camp Meira, a Jewish overnight camp in the mountains.
As campers, and then as staff, their friendship was a constant, something neither wanted to change, no matter how tempting those changes might be.
Then, last year, with little warning, Jeremy left camp early. After that summer, Gen left the country on a graduate fellowship.
Now, a little over a year since they were last at Meira, Gen and Jeremy are back together to help run a special Winter Camp during Hanukkah.
Any water under the bridge is frozen this time of year, and with so much left unspoken and unexplained, this week may be their chance to rekindle their friendship, or turn it into something new.
Ah yes, a romance book where miscommunication is the source of angst and heartache!
I adore that this is a friends to lovers romance even though the thought of crossing that line is scary for both Gen and Jeremy.
Mistletoe & Mishigas
by M.A Wardell
Sheldon Soleskin should be having a horrible day. Even though he’s been unexpectedly transferred to a new school right before the holidays, has only one day to set up his new classroom, and just discovered his twin sister’s been hiding an invitation to his ex-boyfriend’s Christmas Eve wedding, he’s still ready to take on the world with a smile on his face and a skip in his step.
Theo Berenson just wants to be left alone to his custodial duties. But when the chipper new first-grade teacher needs help moving furniture the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he’s forced to do something he detests. Help.
To make matters worse, Theo’s overbearing parents are coming for Hanukah in a few weeks, and he’s told them he has a boyfriend.
Except he doesn’t. Because who would want to date an oaf like Theo?
Working together, these opposites discover they might be able to help each other out. Agreeing to be each other’s dates, they become friends as they practice for their upcoming events.
But when all the rehearsing starts feeling a little too real, and both men’s pasts come roaring back to haunt them, will they be able to pull off the ultimate holiday masquerade?
OMG, I’m so excited to read this book and meet Theo’s Jewish parents and see how Theo and Sheldon can keep up the facade of their relationship.
I’m always down to read a fake relationship romance and this one sounds like the perfect one if you’re in the mood for both a Christmas romance book and Hanukkah romance book!
Season of Love
by Helena Greer
Thanks to her thriving art career, Miriam Blum finally has her decoupaged glitter ducks in a row until devastating news forces her to a very unwanted family reunion.
Her beloved great-aunt Cass has passed and left Miriam part-owner of Carrigan’s, her (ironically) Jewish-run Christmas tree farm.
But Miriam’s plans to sit shiva, avoid her parents, then put Carrigan’s in her rearview mirror are spoiled when she learns the business is at risk of going under.
To have any chance at turning things around, she’ll need to work with the farm’s grumpy manager, as long as the attraction sparking between them doesn’t set all their trees on fire first.
I had to include this Hanukkah romance book on the list because I really want to know more about Miriam’s Jewish-run Christmas tree farm.
Plus, I’m always up for a grumpy sunshine romance so I couldn’t pass it up with some really great diverse characters.
Related Book Lists:
- Best Christmas Romance Books
- Best Christmas Historical Romance Books
- Best Christmas Romance Novellas
- New Christmas Romance Books Releasing in 2023
- New Christmas Romance Books Releasing in 2022
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