I must have missed this in years past, but Penguin books has a yearly holiday hotline. Since I’ve been reading and recommending books for over eight years, I was curious to see what someone else would recommend to me! Here’s what happened when I tried the Penguin Holiday Hotline.

To use the hotline, you fill out a form listing your name and age, plus favorite books, magazines, shows, hobbies and interests.

Then you wait for recommendations to turn up in your inbox. For me it took about 3-4 days.

I wish I’d saved my exact submission, but I said I was a *cough* aged person who liked contemporary books about families, read a lot of thrillers and mysteries, and liked listening to podcasts. (I didn’t mention YA or romance because I feel like I can find my own stuff in those realms.)

Here’s what the Penguin Hotline recommended (some links are affiliate links and I may receive a percentage of qualifying purchases.)

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones – I haven’t read this but have heard good things.

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones – this is an older book by Jones and appeals to me even more than the one above as it’s about a man with two families who don’t know about each other. (Call me weird, I know.) I’m definitely going to try it.

Blue Moon by Lee Child – I used to love his stuff, but it got repetitive. My Hotline recommender said it’s his best yet. My husband loves his books, so I asked him what he thought of this one. “Typical Lee Child,” he said, so there you go. He loved it.

The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves – now this is a Jen book for sure, about a British policewoman stalking the moors and solving crime. Yes, please!

The Silent Oligarch by Christopher Morgan Jones – mmmm…. not for me.

But all in all, I got a couple of recommendations for books I hadn’t heard of and will definitely try.

Have you tried the Penguin Hotline? Tell me in comments!

Want to know what books I recommend? Check out my Master List of Book Lists here!