christmas is all around is here!

we're ignoring the existence of halloween + thanksgiving this year

Hello, fair readers—

Despite the fact that it is October 22, and you are presumably enjoying the sight of autumn leaves and pumpkins, etc. etc. etc., I am going to need you to ignore Halloween and instead leap headfirst into Christmas (for the duration of this newsletter, at least), because I have a book out today!

I am feeling much calmer about this than I usually do, in part because this book isn’t part of a long-running series and I therefore feel significantly less pressure than I felt about my last few books, and in part because I’ve realized that living in the UK, an ocean away from and 5-8 hours ahead of everyone in America (including my entire publishing team and the vast majority of my readership) means that I feel pleasantly disconnected from my own publication day, which I am treating as a positive, because pub days usually make me feel mildly ill. It now occurs to me that this is possibly not something someone should admit in their author newsletter? Too late!

If I didn’t put you off with that glimpse into my brain, then continue reading for more about ~the new book~, as well as some other things that have been bringing me joy lately.

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book news

the most unrealistic thing about this cover art is that they’re not huddled under umbrellas in a miserable drizzle

Christmas Is All Around is out today in the US and UK! You can buy your copy in America at any of the links here, or a UK copy at any of the links here. I realize it is not yet Halloween, but also, it’s going to be November in only ten days, which means that the Christmas season really, truly is almost here, so I feel pretty okay about forcing you to think about it a teensy bit early. (Thanksgiving does not exist in my mental holiday season calendar [and also kind of literally in my life, now that I live in the UK].)

This book is my attempt to write a holiday romance that makes fun of holiday romances while also still being a convincing holiday romance, and I am honestly very proud of it. In a starred review, Booklist called it “exquisitely crafted”, but in a moment perhaps equally thrilling, someone on Instagram yesterday described it as “nepo babies fall[ing] in love at Christmas”, which made me laugh for a solid 30 seconds and which I think is how I will be exclusively describing the book going forward. I hope you all love it, but even if you hate it, I will rest easy in the knowledge that this book’s Christmas-hating heroine would be delighted to have her own Christmas romance despised.

And, one last note: the most annoying thing about living in the UK is not being able to partner with an indie bookstore to offer signed books. (No, actually, it’s having to file taxes in two countries, but the signed books thing is definitely the second most annoying thing.) However! If you’re in the US and would like a signed bookplate with your copy, I signed a bunch when I was in the States last month (and they’re extremely cute, I love my publisher), and the following stores received them (I would reach out to the store directly to ensure you get one!):

• Print: A Bookstore

• Flyleaf Books

• The Novel Neighbor

• Grand Gesture

• Love’s Sweet Arrow

• Meet Cute Bookshop

• The Last Chapter

five recent faves

1. The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry

   This one is also out this week! It’s a historical fantasy set in 1920s England at a magical university; what I love about interwar novels is that sort of romantic melancholy vibe they all possess, and this one has it in spades. I love Parry’s writing so much — another book of hers (a very different one!), The Magician’s Daughter, was one of my favorites of last year — and her books feel like a gift to me personally. I absolutely adored this book, and its characters, who I wanted to hug.

2. Looking At Picture Books newsletter from Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen

   This is a brand-new Substack from an iconic children’s picture book duo, and it’s . . . so good? Look, I know I’m biased due to my professional history as a children’s librarian, but I find in-depth analyses of children’s media fascinating, both because I like kids’ books and also because I think they can teach you a lot about craft, even if you don’t want to create work for children, and I love love love reading their conversations about various iconic picture books. (I particularly loved their discussion of Where the Wild Things Are, because my feelings about that book are so torn between eye-rolling at a certain subset of millennial men in the early-mid 2010s [peak hipster era, in other words] who would call it their favorite book, as if that made them like…clever or unique or deep or whatever, while ALSO truly believing that that book is a masterpiece and every single word in it is clearly chosen with such care and I sometimes tear up when I read it to kids because it is a perfect book [I can basically recite it by heart at this point].)

3. Swordcrossed by Freya Marske

   This book is so. good. I absolutely loved Marske’s Last Binding trilogy (I have bought them all in hard copy since moving to England, which is a true testament to how much I love them and wish to re-read them repeatedly, because please believe me when I say that I have absolutely no bookshelf space in my tiny flat) and this is very different, but equally delightful — it’s a very low-stakes fantasy set in a very cool world with a steamy queer romance and it’s just . . . fun? I am a strong believer in fantasy being fun! You don’t always need to be saving the world! Sometimes you need to just, like, worry about warring guilds and the handsome man you want to sleep with much more than your actual fiancee!

4. The Wild Robot

   Apparently we’re going with a children’s media theme today! This is a last-minute addition to the list (something had to get bumped to make room!) because I just saw this last night and I cannot fully express how much I loved it. It’s adapted from an illustrated young middle grade novel that came out…seven or eight years ago, now? I read the book and loved it when I came out, and I’m pretty sure my coworkers & I put it on our best-of-the-year list at the library that year; it’s a wonderful book (as is its sequel!), and when I learned they were going to adapt it for film, I thought, “Huh,” and then, after pondering it a bit more, I thought, “Actually, I can see that.” And now the movie has landed in the UK so I was able to go and literally see it—and I WAS NOT EMOTIONALLY PREPARED. This movie is so wonderful. It ended with me absolutely weeping in the movie theater, the animation is beautiful, but it is also extremely, extremely funny—often in ways that are the tiniest bit dark, or clearly intended for adults. I kind of can’t believe I’m saying this, but: I think it’s my favorite movie I’ve seen all year?!

5. This queso recipe, for those of us who do not live in America and are desperate

   File this one under: highly relevant to my own specific interests. I am famous (infamous?) among my friends for my deep devotion to queso, which means that I have had a rough few years between living first in Maine (home of bad queso) and now in England (home of actively terrible queso, if you can even find it). I promised to make my own to bring to a friend’s Formula 1 watch party on Sunday and so I scoured the internet for recipes that would work with the limitations that exist in the UK (including the fact that Monterey Jack cheese is just…not in every grocery store, the way it is in the US? appalling) and this one was the winner. Super easy and honestly super delicious (I left out the coriander/cilantro, for what it’s worth!) - and while nothing can compare to the proper queso blanco you can get at Mexican restaurants in the US (something I do not actually think I can make here, with my aforementioned cheese limitations), this is a very good chile con queso that does not involve the use of Velveeta and which I am 100% going to be making as my default dish for parties now.

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This got long, and now that I’ve started talking about queso, I’m hungry, so this is a clear sign to end now. (And then go make queso.)

Happy reading, everyone!

Martha