The Rec League: Thanksgiving Romances
With the holidays coming up, I was hoping to find a Thanksgiving romance. I know Thanksgiving isn’t as “sexy” as some of the other holidays (full stomachs and such), but it’s my favorite, and I was curious if you knew of any or had any to recommend.
I love Thanksgiving. Specifically, I love stuffing (DRESSED UP BREAD. It’s like FORMAL BREAD. It might as well wear a top hat and tails!) and cranberry sauce. But I had to stop and think about whether I’d read and would recommend any Thanksgiving romances. (I think my brain got stuck on the formal breadiness of stuffing, and pretty much shorted out. I seriously love stuffing.)
A | BN | K | ARe | iB Amanda: I immediately thought of that Evanovich book with the turkey on the cover, but I’ve never read it so I have no clue if it’s a romance.
Elyse: It’s Thanksgiving- and it’s a romantic comedy!
Sarah: I know there’s a ton of Harlequin Thanksgiving-themed titles. Sometimes they have vaguely creepy looking kids on the covers- which of course I remember far more than, you know, the words on the covers.
This is the one I always think of first, once the stuffing distraction fog has lifted: Once Upon a Thanksgiving ( A | BN | K | ARe ).
If you’re curious, the winner was Teddypig for Butterballin’, with a runners-up mountain of kudos to “Judy for Turfucken for dinner again?? and Becky for referencing the joke that will NEVER get old, Stuffing the turkey, saving its life!”
Then there’s this cover, The Triplets’ First Thanksgiving ( A | BN | K | ARe | iB ), which I find both creepy and charming:
What is the baby in the front dressed as? Something with a long orange stinger and a green stem? I have no idea, but he doesn’t look pleased to be there.
Amanda: Well, if my Thanksgivings are any indication, there’s nothing sexy about family dysfunction and that gelatin cranberry sauce.
Sarah: Ok, step off the cranberry sauce, or pass yours to me because I harbor a sick, deep love for that stuff. But yes, the family dysfunction is clearly not always easily-resolved romance material.
Amanda: Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love that jelled cranberry sauce, but there are some people who abhor it. We’re having a big “Friendsgiving” in Boston before we all disperse and I suggest snagging the canned sauce and my group of friends acted like I wanted to bring roadkill to the feast.
I’m bringing the canned sauce anyway and I’m going to make them all watch as a splorp it onto the plate.
Sarah: I open both ends of the can and push it onto a plate. Then I slice a strip off one long side so it has a flat surface to sit on while we pass the plate.
THEN I EAT THAT STRIP OF JELLY RED GOODNESS. Because YUM. MINE.
Wait! I THOUGHT OF ONE. My brain let go of the idea of butter, celery, onion, marjoram and bread long enough to remind me – Hot Head by Damon Suede has Thanksgiving in it.
A | BN | K And I just received an email from author Penny Watson that her new Thanksgiving novella Apples Should be Red is .99c at most vendors,too.
A | BN | K | ARe | iB Carrie: His Road Home – I totally forgot to mention that it has Thanksgiving in it!
Elyse: I, too, love the cranberry jelly, but I agree on the dysfunction thing. And turkey comas.
I don’t think I’ve read a Thanksgiving romance.
Ok, so we’re not super useful for this request, especially now that envisioning a casserole of stuffing sends me into an instantaneous deep, warm and very satisfying meditative state.
What about you? Do you have a Thanksgiving recommendation for Abby? Do you have a strong position on jelly cranberry sauce, for or against?
Heeeey – maybe we might all get away with reading under the table if we want to ignore the tension above the table! We definitely need more Thanksgiving recommendations, then. Do you have any to add?
