Christmas Cheer with Hannah Mary McKinnon

And so now we are going to get into the festival, whether it's like Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday reads. And now I would like to welcome author Hannah Mary McKinnon, who is also Holly Cassidy. She has another alias. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Of course. And so you have some pretty awesome Christmas romance stories, which I think is like the perfect time everybody goes for those during the holiday. But before we take a look at some of your work, tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and what really sparks your interest into becoming an author. Sure. Thank you for saying I have perfect holiday books. That's lovely. First of all, thank you very much. So I'm originally from the UK, but I lived in Switzerland for many years before my Canadian husband and I moved back to Canada. So I'm based near Toronto. And in a former life, I ran an IT recruitment company. And now I write books for a living. So there you go. Very, Very, very different. Thrillers and romance. Yeah. Now, how does it... How are you able to balance having like two different names that you go by and you write very different when it comes to the two different aliases? Well, the truth is that I never write a thriller and a romance at the same stage at the same time. So I might be outlining a thriller, but editing a romance book, because otherwise there might be some unfortunate crossover that, you know, I guess if romance goes into the thriller, that's okay. But if the murdery stuff gets into a romance, that's really not. Not good. So generally that's how I managed to separate them. Uh, and, and it's no secret that Holly Cassidy is Hannah Mary McKinnon. It's the same author photo, both websites link back to me, you know, link to each other so that it's no secret. It's just, sometimes I have to put the romance hat on and then take it off and put the thriller hat on. Yeah. Now, if you're a reader, what would you say is like your number one go-to genre? Oh, gosh. That's like asking me which of my three children is my favorite. That's an impossible question. So I do read a lot of crime, of course, because that is what I write. I read a lot of romance because that's also what I write. But I also read historical fiction, the odd sci-fi, a splash of nonfiction. It really depends. I'm more of a mood reader, I think, than anything else. But I think it's great that you're diverse with your reading as well, because that kind of helps you get different story ideas for your different storylines, which I think is pretty cool. And so now we're going to go into the Holly Cassidy mode, and we're going to talk about one of your Christmas books, which is The Christmas Wager. And it's an enemies to lovers book, which a lot of people love, the friends to lovers, enemies to lover kind of feel. So tell readers a little bit about what's involved in this storyline. Sure. So we have Bella, who's originally from Canada, living in the U.S., and she has the opportunity for. The deal of a lifetime, to pull off the deal of a lifetime because she works for a real estate company. The trick is that she has to go to a very small town called Maple Falls and acquire the building in which there's a Christmas shop. And of course, Jesse, the hunky electrician, is the grandson of the owner of the Christmas shop, and he does not want Bella, big city girl Bella, coming and taking his grandfather's building. So they decide to enter a wager, the Christmas wager, because Maple Falls every year hosts these completely ridiculous holiday games, festive holiday games, and basically winner takes all. But there might just be a spark of romance that ends up upending everything. Yeah. Which we always love. Like you kind of, a lot of times kind of know what the ending is. It's kind of predictable, but we love to go through the motions, you know, either way it goes. And then you also have The Christmas Countdown, which is a cute little rom-com book. So tell readers about what's in this story. So the Christmas countdown is also, there's obviously a love story, it's a rom-com, but there's also a big, it hinges on sisters, basically. So Callie is down in the dumps. She was dumped a while ago. She's over the guy, but she's now feeling very festive. And her sister, Anita, absolutely wants to get her into the Christmas spirit. So Anita makes Callie an advent calendar with tasks and treats, and they alternate. So one day Callie has to do a Christmas And the next day she gets a treat and typically the two are linked. So we have a very hunky baker called Marco who enters the scene and he might just be the little hint of spice or more than a hint of spice that Callie needs to get back into the Christmas spirit. Now, since you dabble and dabble in, like, the thriller, crime, and then romance, when it comes to these kind of festive romance stories, what is the most fun when it comes to writing these? Christmas. I know that's a simple answer, but Christmas is my favorite holiday. Hands down is my absolute favorite. And so being able to build in Christmas activities and Christmas songs and Christmas traditions that I had as a kid or that I've continued as an adult has been really, really fun. So the Christmas calendar, the Christmas advent calendar idea in the Christmas countdown actually came from something that I used to do for my husband and our three sons. So it was It's fun to be able to incorporate that, a different, more elaborate version in the book. So that's what I love the most about Christmas rom-coms. I think you and my mom will be best friends because Christmas has been her favorite season since she was a kid. Like she would fall asleep under the Christmas tree just, you know, to get under the lights. And like she hasn't taken her Christmas tree down now, I think since like last year. I'm like, mom, OK, like really, you know, like the lights will blow out. She'll just get more lights and just like keep circling it. But it is that festive, but, you know, like cheerful mode, which I think a lot of us need nowadays with everything that's going on and just that festiveness. And so before I let you go, is there anything else that you would like? like to say to fellow book lovers out there, especially as we get into this holiday season. Oh gosh, you know, I would say books make an excellent, excellent Thanksgiving. Or Christmas present. So, So, you know, I heard the other day it's a cheap form of entertainment. And it is because it gives you hours and hours of entertainment. So please, thank you for reading. And please, gift books if you can. Get your library to buy them if you can't afford books. Libraries are brilliant. They support the community as well that you're living in. And just if you can read and want to read, it's always safe inside a book. Yes. Well, Hannah, a.k.a. Holly, thank you so much for taking the time to come and chat with me and fellow book lovers out there. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having me.