Guest post by Mom Com author Adriana Mather
Adriana Mather is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Hang a Witch, with family roots that go back to Sleepy Hollow, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Titanic. She’s also an actor and producer best known for her role in the award-winning Honeyglue. She co-owns Zombot Pictures, a production company that makes feature films. Her first acting scene in a film ever was with Danny Glover, and she was terrified she would mess it up. In addition, her favorite food is pizza, she has too many cats, and a deep abiding love for all things autumnal.
Releasing on November 14th, Mom Com is a heartwarming tale of love, family, and pastry perfection.
It’s the time of lights and cookies! Of cozy blankets and silly pyjamas. But is it truly the Christmas season until you’ve watched at least one Christmas movie, or maybe binged seventeen of them? Preferably curled up on a couch in front of a fireplace with a steaming cup of cocoa. If you’re anything like me you have your set list of fav holiday movies you’ve been watching every year since you were little, adding to them as you grow. Which is why it’s a double dip of pleasure to pair these movies with equally compelling books.
Do you watch Love Actually every year? Try Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory.
If you swooned and giggled over Huge Grant and Martine McCutcheon in Love Actually, give Jasmine Guillory’s holiday romance a twirl. In Royal Holiday, Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can’t refuse. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary, his accent, and his unyielding formality. This story is infused with British charm!
Love The Holiday? Check out The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox.
There is nothing more fun than watching two people switch lives, make mistakes, and learn things about themselves while they scramble to fix it. In The Holiday Swap is a feel-good romantic comedy about identical twins who switch lives in the days leading up to Christmas. Will the twins’ identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?
Did you swoon over Happiest Season? Read Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur.
What’s not to love about sapphic romances with sparkly twinkle lights holiday backdrops? In Written in the Stars, two women who are complete opposites find themselves embroiled in a fake relationship stemming from a white lie. It’s a feel-good holiday novel following a free-spirited astrologer and an uptight actuary who made a pact to keep up their relationship ruse until New Year’s Eve. Love is definitely in the air!
If you habitually watch A Christmas Story, try Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb.
Of course A Christmas Story is based on Jean Shepherd’s book by the same name, but if you’re looking to shake things up with story that embodies the same heady nostalgia, try Wishin’ and Hopin’. The story follows a feisty parochial school fifth grader named Felix Funicello and is filled with Christmas dreams, a whole lotta laughs, and a dose of Christmas magic.
Charmed by Dash and Lily? Try The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park.
There is nothing like young love. And if you were enchanted by Dash and Lily (based on the book Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn) then you will love the vibe of Suzanne Park’s YA. Chloe Kwon can’t stand Peter Li. It’s always been that way. Their families don’t get along either: their parents operate rival restaurants in the Riverwood Mall food court―Korean food for the Kwons and Chinese food for the Lis. Now it’s the holiday season and Chloe’s the photographer at the mall’s Santa’s Village, and Peter works at the virtual reality North Pole experience right across the atrium. It’s all Chloe can do to avoid Peter’s smug, incredibly photogenic face.
A fan of The Family Stone? Read 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall.
Love a complicated and emotional family story that centers around the holidays? Try this awesome queer romance with fake amnesia and real feelings! In 10 Things That Never Happened Sam believes his boss Jonathan is going fire him and his entire branch. He panics, trips, and bumps his head, accidentally implying he doesn’t remember anything? Faking amnesia seemed like a good idea, but now he has to deal with the reality of Jonathan’s guilt―as well as the unsettling fact that his surly boss might have a softer side. Can Sam really bring himself to tell the truth, or will their future be built entirely on one impulsive lie?
And if like me, you desperately wish The Gilmore Girls had a Christmas movie, read Mom Com by Adriana Mather.
While the Gilmore Girls is an all year favorite, the show embodies the warmth, joy, and humor of a great holiday romp. In Mom Com, Maddi reluctantly returns to her tiny gossipy town (where she’s the town scandal) for the holidays with her nine-year old. What Maddi doesn’t know is that there’s an issue with her father’s will and his beloved bakery that mysteriously involves the one person she’s vowed never to speak to again—her childhood best friend, Wilder. It’s a story laden with pastries, heartfelt and complicated families, and swoony romance, all wrapped up in a heaping dose of banter!
