Chatting About My First Book, Revealing my Second One (!), and a List of Cocktails to Put You in a Holiday Mood
Plus: 25 books I fell in love with in 2024
Remember when I said the next issue would come out on November 6? Which happened to be the day after a certain election?
Ha. Haha. HahahahaHAAAAAAAAAAA.
*wipes away bitter tears*
I won’t spell out the details of the depression-deadlines-illness-internet outage that put my newsletter productivity in the toilet over the last six weeks. Instead I come to you with an extremely souped-up December issue of Reading at the Bar, packed with big news and FOUR different lists of my favorite reads of 2024. (Or five, but one is one entry long. Four and a half?)
First, The Slowest Burn and I have been featured on three different podcasts in the last few weeks. I was interviewed on both Confessions of a Debut Novelist and Everything Cookbooks, and the ultimate romance reader’s podcast Fated Mates featured The Slowest Burn as one of their Excellent 2024 Debut Romance Novels! I have discovered that I actually love being on podcasts, so if you have one and want someone to come chat to you for an hour about books or food or romance or pretty much whatever, I’m game.
Second, Book 2 has a title, Love Walked In! And an American pub date - September 2, 2025! And a link to pre-order! There is also a cover which can’t be publicly released yet, but watch this space next month…
There’s even a blurb! Meet my two idiots, Mari and Leo, who are getting on with their lives not knowing the storm about to hit them:
A sunshine American bookstore whisperer clashes with the grumpy British owner of the shop she’s trying to save in this winning opposites-attract romance for book lovers.
He has a struggling bookshop. She has a knack for bringing bookstores back to life. As soon as she walks into his store, all bets are off…
Mari Cole’s whole life is her dream job: rescuing and revitalizing indie bookstores. Friendship? Love? No thanks. After a hard childhood, she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone. Besides, books have never let Mari down the way people have.Then she gets the offer of a lifetime: rescuing Ross & Co. Once the most prestigious independent booksellers in London, the store is a shadow of its former self and needs an expert outsider to turn things around. But the offer turns out to be a double-edged sword: Leo Ross, the store's new owner, is as cold and hostile as the British winter.
For as long as he can remember, Leo Ross has known his future is becoming the next generation to run Ross and Co. He’s sacrificed almost everything he cares about, but the bookshop is still failing on his watch, and now there's an obnoxiously cheerful American woman convinced that she's going to magically make everything better. Leo’s life is difficult and messy enough as it is, and he doesn’t want her help.
When Mari and Leo are forced to work closely together to bring the store back to life, Leo's icy surface thaws to reveal the passionate man underneath. As the cold winter gives way to the possibility of new beginnings, Mari begins to see that true love could be even better in real life than in the pages of a book. Can they put their pasts aside and learn to let love in?
Love Walked In holds so many things that are important to me: it’s a love letter to my messy, magnificent, and freezing cold adopted home of London, it’s a tribute to indie bookstores, and it’s my first time writing a female main character who is bi like me.
There’s culture clash humor, Monty Python references, an epic amount of pining (and a deliciously steamy end to that pining), and a cat, of course, because no one’s happiness is complete without a very good cat. Speaking of happiness, it’d make ME very happy if you hit that pre-order button…
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But you’re also here for book recommendations! It’s been a great year for me as a reader, and I graded all of the books on the lists below an A or an A+ on my big tracking spreadsheet. You could find Christmas/Hanukkah presents for pretty much anyone, whether they love swooning over a romance, getting swept up in a grand fantasy, or pondering deep, knotty literary fiction and history. If you don’t see anything that works for your particularly finicky friend/relative/Secret Santa, I am also happy to be your book concierge - just ask in the comments.
The Great Big List of Books I Really, Truly Loved in 2024
Romance
When I Think of You by Myah Ariel (A poignant second-chance romance set in Hollywood, full of Black love and the joys of making and watching movies.)
Ready or Not by Cara Bastone (A sweet, tender story about taking charge of your own life and finding the people who’ll support you no matter what.)
One on One by Jamie Harrow (A spiky, witty kinda-second-chance romance and a clear-eyed look behind the scenes of college basketball.)
The Prospects by KT Hoffman (Delightful enemies-to-lovers romance that’s also a love letter to the scrappiness of minor league baseball.)
Under Your Spell by Laura Wood (Pure delicious wish fulfillment for anyone who’s ever dreamed about a rock star falling head over heels in love with you…and for anyone who’s always wanted sisters.)
Experienced by Kate Young (An incredibly sexy and funny journey of lesbian discovery.)
Speculative Fiction/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (Rich, colorful, sinister fantasy set in Inquisition-era Spain, totally immersive and breathtakingly good.)
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Utterly sharp, hilarious, thrilling time-travel thriller/romance/dissection of colonialism and Empire.)
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (The most out-of-left-field premise that had me turning pages desperate to find out what happened next.)
Starling House by Alix E Harrow (Fantasy romance written by Flannery O’Connor. Gritty, bloody, fascinating.)
Weyward by Emilia Hart (Multiple-timeline feminist historical thriller with the perfect bloody edge of vengeful magic.)
Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang (Post-apocalyptic thriller combining deep existential unease with unbelievably sensual scenes of cooking and eating.)
A Special Category Just For These Books, Which Are Bananas and Utterly Addictive
The Psy/Changeling Series by Nalini Singh (Urban fantasy romance set in 2079 San Francisco. Epic and twisty and fun, perfect for when you’re under the weather and need a new binge read.)
More Reality-Based But Equally Excellent Fiction
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Luminous, moving saga of familial and romantic love. The ending almost broke me - you have been warned.)
You Are Here by David Nicholls (A funny, awkward, very British romance, and the perfect post-COVID novel.)
Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay (A beautiful chronicle of four generations of Filipino-American men and the scars struggle and trauma leave behind.)
Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal (Immensely charming fish-out-of-water small town novel set on an island in the South Atlantic.)
The Fraud by Zadie Smith (Sprawling nineteenth-century style historical fiction that’s alternately witty and brutal, and an excellent post-election read if you’re wondering how on earth we got to where we are in 2024.)
Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan (Crazy Rich Asians meets Ocean’s 8, a thrilling Shanghai-set heist comedy to dive into headfirst.)
Non-Fiction
Erotic Vagrancy by Roger Lewis (Everything you ever wanted to know about the forces of nature that were Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, told in the most wonderfully arch and camp voice.)
Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Joins Crying in H Mart as my favorite book of food writing not written by a food writer.)
A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell (Worried that true crime has become totally salacious and voyeuristic? This is the antidote.)
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair (One of the best memoirs I have ever read - certainly the one with the most beautiful writing!)
National Dish by Anya von Bremzen (A smart and witty examination of how food gets tangled up with national identity, whether it’s pizza in Naples or tortillas in Mexico.)
Anansi’s Gold by Yepoka Yeebo (An epic story of corruption and fraud in post-independence Ghana that metastasized around the world.)
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But wait, you cry - there’s no cocktail!
Apologies, I don’t have a new cocktail recipe for you this time - but I’ll be back on it in the New Year. Instead, here’s a list of drinks I love for the holidays. If you aren’t feeling as festive as you would like, I’d highly recommend trying a glass/mug of one of these.
The coziest hot chocolate: Gingerbread Hot Chocolate from Spice Kitchen
My favorite mulled wine: Signe Johansen’s Triple Cherry Gløgg (Also excellent with latkes!)
The best punch for a party with all the snacks: Alice Lascelles’ Riesling Cup
My new favorite whisky and the ultimate winter comfort: Marmalade Pipe Tobacco from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society
The Chamberlain-Curtis Christmas Day Long Walk tradition: A thermos full of milky coffee laced with a little bourbon, with Jaffa Cakes on the side. (Americans - the US equivalent is LU Pim’s Orange cookies.)
The Chamberlain Christmas Night tradition: The Classic Champagne Cocktail (AKA Turbo Champagne)
The Most Underrated Beverage: Dessert wine! Port, Tokaji, late harvest Riesling, Moscato, vin santo, Sauternes. I love it all and no one drinks it anymore, which is practically a crime. A ice-cold little glass of one of these is a true treat.
The Very Last Minute Present for Your Loved One Who Appreciates Good Liquor: Buffalo Trace, Campari, Sipsmith gin, Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla (UK)/Sevilla Orange (US), Diplomatico, Carpano Antica Formula, Talisker, Glenmorangie, Aberlour.
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Happy holidays, everybody! Thank you so much for sticking with me this year. I’ll be back with the first issue of 2025 on January 8.
And just in case you haven’t yet…