When you are a booklover, you know what people are getting you on your birthday – Book, you know what people are getting you on your Graduation – Books, and you obviously know what’s all wrapped up sitting cozily under the Christmas tree waiting for you – Books. So, while it’s easy to shop for a bibliophile, sometimes you have to do something fresh. That’s where Christmas advent calendar books come in handy!
First, let’s take a quick look at the USP of Advent novels and then read about the most popular reads to add to your Advent calendar book collection!
What are Christmas Advent Calendar Books/ Novels?
You might know the age-old, everyday gift advent calendar, where you receive a single book each day, featuring short stories mainly designed for kids. Alternatively, there are the standard book advent calendars, which offer special gifts such as stickers and magnets, ideal for book lovers.
But Advent calendar books 2025 are a little different. Look specifically for the keywords here, Christmas Advent Calendar Novel/Book, not a Book Advent Calendar. So, these are the novels where you get a continuous story, just like a normal fiction novel, but you read a single chapter a day, stretching the story over the month of December.
What’s the thing that’s making Advent calendar books unique? We, the readers, actually get to tear through the pages to get into the next chapter by using a ruler, letter opener, or, if you are in a hurry, frankly, our fingers for the perforated pages as we count down to Christmas. It’s the fact that it feels like you are unwrapping a present, i.e., a chapter, every single day until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself!
Top Advent Calendar Books This Merry Season:
1. A Heart For Christmas By Sophie Jomain
Let’s start with the novel that started the viral trend, the Advent Calendar book Heart for Christmas by bestselling author Sophia Jomain. The novel was first written in French, and the idea of 24 sealed perforated chapters began with it.
As for the story, you guessed it: it’s pretty sweet and Christmas-y, where the lead, April, goes to her father’s French Chalet after her heart transplant two years ago. Her restrictive lifestyle due to the operation makes her feel incomplete, and that’s where our hero, Augustin, her best friend’s older brother, comes in, and together they find the Christmas spirit. The YA brother’s friend trope is common, but the Christmasy theme and emotional side, alongside the background of the French countryside, make the book stand out!
2. Christmas Eve Love Story by Ginny Baird
Ginny Baird’s Christmas Eve Love Story, which was first published last year, got an updated cover and format and became eligible as one of the Advent Calendar Books 2025!
The story follows Annie Jones, who works as a window decorator at a posh department store, and when her special Christmas Eve display gets distorted, she gets a tip for a do-over by the store Santa with the help of our hero, Brandon. In the total Groundhog Day style, she now has more than enough chances to make the display perfect and get out of the time loop she’s stuck in.
The premise of the lead stuck in a day around the time of Christmas Eve of all days adds a special someone that gets lifted by the Advent Calendar books chapter a day format!
3. Secret Santa by Sophia Jomain
Another Sophia Jomain Advent Calendar novel would be this YA Romance read. In the story, we have our lead, Fannette, who hides her comfortable life while volunteering at a student association (ASEL), helping underprivileged students, and organizing a Secret Santa game.
There, she meets with a fellow medical student, Roméo, who doesn’t know Soohie’s reality. While we all know how these cute Christmas books go on, the novel’s emotional undertone, Xmas theme, and the drama make us add it to our list!
4. Jingle All The Way Home by Catherine Hapka
After the Advent Calendar books adults, we should also look out for something for kids. Jingle All The Way is recommended for children between 6-8, but the twenty-four sealed chapters, which come with the most gorgeous illustrations by Kathryn Selbert on each page, makes me wanna add into my advent calendar book collection as well.
The Advent Calendar novel circles around a puppy, Jingle, as seen in the cover, against a fictional Christmassy town. The lead, Chris, discovers a talkative puppy on Christmas morning who’s been stuck in his parents’ chimney accidentally!
Jingle comes straight from the North Pole, and Chris, his sister, Holly, and her friend, Ivy, help Jingle to Santa’s residence on time.
5. The Christmas Contest by Maxime Gillio
Like other Christmas advent novels for kids, there are 24 chapters in this 5+ novel. It seems to narrate the story of every kid’s dream: To become the apprentice of Santa Claus, helping him deliver presents to kids all over the globe.
When the big man himself organizes a competition, we meet with different but vibrant characters: an elf, a gnome, a stuffed monkey, and a kid who are competing in creative tests as we count down the days to Christmas to see who’ll be the winner!
6. The Mysterious Reindeer by Natacha Godeau
Another popular choice among Advent calendar books kids, The Mysterious Reindeer has some thrilling elements in the story centered around the reindeer farm where Elliot and his cousin Flore meet with a toymaker who’s lost a magical animal.
Back at the farm, the cousins discover one reindeer in particular behaving rather strangely. This starts the adventurous journey of the duet, which we continue to read day by day!
7. The Great Christmas Riddle by Sophie Adriansen
This Advent Calendar novel follows four kids, Harrison, April, Gipsy, and Colin, when they come together to organize their boarding school’s Christmas show after the director disappeared. Now, they have to put on a fabulous show while trying to solve the riddle of what really happened!
The adventurous investigating journey of the junior detectives comes with puzzles to be solved by kids and, well, even us adults, at every chapter’s end, which makes it unique from all the other advent calendar books for children!
With beautiful illustrations by experienced artist Federica Frenna, the novel is as beautiful as it is intriguing. Each day, peeling a sealed page already feels like we are getting closer and closer to the clue.
Conclusion and Special Note
I love this concept of perforated pages around Christmas-themed novels specifically because they bring just a little more joy to a normal novel, exhilarating the reading experience.
Now, the special note is for the publishing companies behind this niche concept. The majority of the books in the list are by the Independent publisher Auzou Publishing, and I believe they are a pioneer in introducing the effect of advent calendar books, specifically this year with their ‘My Advent Novels’ collection.
The innovative idea of adding an advent calendar books chapter a day in seals, which the reader peels through each day, is adding just a little more sparkle that my book-lover heart just has to praise (without being sponsored.)
Now, how does Simon & Schuster fit into the picture? Well, the vintage publishing house has partnered with Auzou to bring the concept in the English language to other countries as well, after the books were published in French before. Now, my Christmas wish this season would be if we got more diverse genres!
