We chat with author Beth Garrod about her latest release All The Jingle Ladies, which is cosy YA holiday romcom, perfect for fans of Dash & Lily and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
Hi, Beth! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! Thanks for having me here ☺ I’m Beth – I live in London, and I’m a kids and YA author. You might guess from All The Jingle Ladies, but I’m big fan of Christmas (and Beyoncé tbf) and I love to stroll about frosty central London streets saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to strangers like I’m in a Richard Curtis film (except they mostly look confused by this display of city-friendliness, very much unlike in a Richard Curtis film). I normally put my tree up around mid-November – although one year despite love and care it didn’t survive in our tiny flat till Christmas Day, so we had to smuggle a covert replacement in at night so our neighbours didn’t think we were stockpiling a forest. I’m actually coming to New York this Christmas just to soak up all the festive-ness, and I cannot wait!
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Well it was an accident. At Uni I studied science and coding, which led to a job at the BBC producing their digital content, which then became a job working on their website for teenagers. And that’s when I realised I loved writing, especially about those brilliant-fantastic-terrible younger years, and extra-especially if it was something that made me, or hopefully someone else as well, laugh. Just having a bit in the day where you can zone out of life, and be a little bit happier, is a really lovely thing. I wrote my first YA ‘Super Awkward’ all about being in your teens and trying (and failing) to figure out life. Now 14 books later I still feel like I’m learning more about writing every time I dive into a new project.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Plop The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark – Jill Tomlinson
- The one that made you want to become an author: Queen Judy Blume – Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Really Good, Actually – Monica Heisey. A scene about a delivery order is still making me laugh now.
Your latest novel, All the Jingle Ladies, is out October 4th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Festive fish-(aka Elf)-out-of-water
What can readers expect?
A festive, funny teen read, that’s full of romance, but equally stuffed with friendship, eccentric families, mysterious American hotties, and themed sweaters. To be more specific, it’s about Molly Bell – a Christmas-hating British teen who wants to live a quiet life far (far!) away from her embarrassing attention-loving family. But Molly is plunged into a sleigh-load of Christmas drama when the mortifying family song her parents released when she was little – complete with her being a cutesy little elf – suddenly hits the big time. But with the tune snowballing into biggest song of the season, not helped by an unexpected encounter with hot boy who is at serious risk of melting her frosty heart, Molly begins to realise she has two options – learn to love her elf, or fall headlong into her biggest mistletoe misadventure yet.
Where did the inspiration for All the Jingle Ladies come from?
All the Jingle Ladies is my second Christmas book after Blame It On The Mistletoe, which is about two teens who swap lives in the US and UK. I had loads of fun writing BIOTM (even if my Spotify got very confused listening to so many Christmas tunes in July), so for my second festive book, I wanted to keep just as much Christmas in there, alongside lots of friendship and family themes– but this time take a Christmas-hating girl and see what happened when she was plunged into a glitzy A-list festive world, miles away from her normal life. I wanted it to feel very real life, but with those sprinkles of magic that Christmas can really create. And as I’d just spent some pretty magical time in a snowy London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and my parents’ middle-of-nowhere but incredibly cute countryside village, I wanted to weave those locations in too.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I always love writing scenes with best friends, or eccentric families. So Molly’s mum and dad being full parsnip-costume wearing local celeb extroverts rocking the stage in their Brussel Shouts band, was really fun to write. Especially when I could throw a smart talking older sister, and worryingly horse-obsessed younger sister into the mix. And I loved Molly and her best friend’s trip to a snowy Edinburgh with two very different dads in tow.
What are three must-watches for the holiday season?
- Elf
- Nativity
- Anything featuring Lindsay Lohan or Vanessa Hudgens
What’s next for you?
Well, I’m excited to have my first middle grade come out in America next year ‘The Unfortunate Wishes of Nelly Young’ and then I’m working on a couple of projects for a slightly different age group… we shall see!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I’m just getting stuck into The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (‘You wait ages for The One . . . then 203 come along at once’ – what a tag line), for Christmas vibes I can’t wait for Only For The Holidays by Abiola Bello (Christmas, cute, funny – sounds like it has everything) and then next on my list is a book I’ve been dying to read for yonks, ‘Boy Like Me’ by Simon James Green.
