We chat with Holly Cassidy about The Christmas Wager, which is a delightful enemies-to-lovers holiday rom-com set in the quaint town of Maple Falls, about a city girl and a small-town boy who compete in the town’s annual holiday games in order to win the right price for a Christmas shop!
Hi, Holly! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
With pleasure. I was born in the UK, grew up in Switzerland, and moved to Canada in 2010. I have two business degrees, and before becoming an author, I had a long corporate career that culminated in my being the CEO of a pan-European IT recruitment company. I’ve been happily married to my Canadia rock for over 20 years and we have three adult sons. I love books (of course), chocolate, cheese, and mud-runs (the muddier, the better).
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve always loved books, and adored writing in school, but I was focused on my corporate career thereafter, so I didn’t write anything creative for decades. Penning novels wasn’t on my radar until we moved to Canada. When we arrived, and my HR start-up company failed, it catapulted me into deciding what I truly wanted to do, and whether I wanted to reinvent myself. I realized the answer was to become an author, and I got to work.
My debut was a rom com Time After Time (2016) a light-hearted story about paths not taken, think Groundhog Day meets Sliding Doors. After that I wanted to write grittier stories, and quickly transitioned to the dark side of suspense. I’ve since released six suspense novels as Hannah Mary McKinnon, five of them Canadian bestsellers, including Never Coming Home, and The Revenge List.
It was such a joy to go back to writing a romantic-comedy with The Christmas Wager, and my plan is to continue doing both. I love my second career and can’t imagine doing anything else.
Can you tell us about what the road to becoming a published author was like for you?
I made a lot of mistakes before my first novel, Time After Time (credited to my given name, Hannah Mary McKinnon), was published, including rushing to submit the manuscript to an agent before it was truly ready. After editing it for two years, taking creative writing courses, and reading a lot, I managed to secure representation. If I’d taken those classes and learned about the industry earlier, it may not have taken as long…but the rejections kept my feet firmly on the ground and made me more determined. In a FitBit meditation with Ceasar F. Barajas, I recently heard we could “think of rejection as redirection.” It really resonated with me.
Over the past decade, I’ve learned to trust my writing process. If I can get the bones of the story on paper, I’ll add layers and complexity as I go over the novel again and again in preparation for my editor’s eyes. I accept the finer details will come as I work. I’ll figure out plot-holes if I allow myself time to work through them. Just like most people who draw, paint, or write music or books, the first draft will never be my best work. Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that. I’m glad I’ve accepted this because it stops me from being overly self-critical when I start a project.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
- The Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves – I have the collection and read them to my sons when they were small
- Creep by Jennifer Hillier – without a doubt, Jenny pulled me over to the dark side of suspense
- Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister – it’s so creative and flawless
Your latest novel, The Christmas Wager, is out September 26th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Playful, quirky, romantic, funny, festive.
What can readers expect?
A feel-good Christmas story about real-estate hot-shot Bella Ross, who’s tasked with purchasing an old, failing Christmas store in the quaint little town of Maple Falls, which is nestled in the Colorado mountains. She thinks it’ll be easy…until she meets the owner’s stubborn but hunky grandson, electrician Jesse Harrison. Bella wants the store for next to nothing, Jesse refuses, and they end up competing in the town’s quirky annual Holiday Games. Sparks fly—as do snowballs—but will these rivals find love together?
Where did the inspiration for The Christmas Wager come from?
In short: the year 2020. My mum passed away a couple of months after the pandemic hit and I couldn’t get to Switzerland to say goodbye. It was one of the most gut-wrenching, guilt-inducing experiences of my life. During that time, I worked on my sixth book, the thriller Never Coming Home (under my real name Hannah Mary McKinnon). Although it’s crime fiction, it turned out to be funny (dark and twisted humor, but humor nonetheless) and that happened because I needed to escape someplace where I could laugh when everything else felt so desperate.
I enjoyed writing the humor so much, it got me thinking—could I go back to my romantic-comedy roots. If so, how, and when would I do that? I didn’t want to stop writing thrillers but do both if possible, so I played around with a few ideas. To be honest, I didn’t do much with them until my agent asked if I’d thought about writing a romantic-comedy. Now that’s what I call serendipitous! I had so much fun working on The Christmas Wager and bringing Bella and Jesse together. It was truly a delight to explore the lighter side of life before going back to my fictional murderous ways. Doing both is a great balance.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
So many! I particularly enjoyed writing the holiday games, as they were such fun to imagine playing out. Of course I loved protagonists Bella and Jesse, and the development of their sweet relationship, but one of my favorite secondary characters is Gladys, the leader of the seniors club the Merryatrics. She made me laugh so much. I want to be like her when I grow up. Full of mischief and mayhem!
Tell us five facts readers don’t know about The Christmas Wager!
- Bella’s fear of singing in public closely mirrors mine.
- I once played a version of the Human Singing Christmas Tree game at an office holiday party, with hilarious results.
- Maple Falls was inspired by multiple towns I’ve lived close to or visited in Switzerland.
- I love including at least one British character (e.g. Tim from Tipsy’s pub) in my novels because of my English background.
- My original name for Maple Falls was Mittensville!
What’s next for you?
2024 is going to be a busy year with two releases.
First up is my thriller called Only One Survives: “How far would you go for fame? After a fatal car accident, one of the members of the up-and-coming all-female pop rock group the Bittersweet decides the band may now well be worth more dead than alive. It’s Daisy Jones & The Six meets Ruth Ware’s One by One.”
We’ll release another holiday romantic-comedy, too: “When all Callie wants for Christmas is hibernation, and she insists she can’t go to her hometown for the holidays because her ex-boyfriend will be next door with his new partner, Callie’s sister intervenes with a homemade ‘give’n’get’ Advent Calendar, sending Callie on a journey of self-discovery and providing her with an unexpected shot at love.”
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Of course! I’m very excited about Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley’s Three Holidays and a Wedding and It’s a Date (Again) by Jeneva Rose. For a poignant and beautiful memoir, pick up Canadian singer/songwriter Tara MacLean’s Song of the Sparrow, and if you’re looking for an excellent thriller, I recommend Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister.
