Abby Jimenez: Holiday Romance Tropes, Cinnamon Roll Heroes & The Darcy Hand Flex

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Speaker 3 I have

Speaker 3 a very cinnamon roll, emotionally intelligent husband. I got him searched by TSA, and I didn't tell him until we were engaged.

Speaker 2 I waited.

Speaker 3 We have both been flown to Ohio for this conference. My now husband boards, and he's completely disheveled.

Speaker 3 Okay, he's holding his shoes, his belt's undone, his shirt's untucked, his like his hair is tossled, and he's holding this messenger bag.

Speaker 3 And he stops in our row and like kind of leans and goes, You guys will not believe what happened.

Speaker 2 Welcome back to House of Mar at Wave Original. Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge.
The Wi-Fi password is geode underscore cake. All caps.

Speaker 2 My favorite Christmas song is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Sinatra. I feel like it sets the mood of Christmas.

Speaker 2 It does. You hear those opening lines.
You're like, oh,

Speaker 2 I'm covered. I'm cozy.

Speaker 2 And I'm Olivia, the oldest daughter and my favorite christmas pop song is going to be a tie between santa tell me by ariana grande or mistletoe by justin paper by the beebs by the babes i'm adriana and my uh favorite christmas song is i'll be home for christmas and i prefer julian noon's cover i would like to give an honorable mention i think all of us would agree married you know married did you know by clay aiken

Speaker 2 it's not his i don't think but he sings it that's we like his cover there's so many covers that have occurred we love clay aiken's version of that. That song by him.

Speaker 2 You can hear ring belting around the halls of our house. Yep.
Not that we have like long, luxurious hallways in our house, particularly. Those carpeted floors.
Those carpeted floors.

Speaker 2 That song is absorbed by all the carpet and fabric in curtains in our house. And in our house, we have a few house rules.
Reindeer are magic. Cider is hot sometimes.
And so are you.

Speaker 2 Make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube and hit that like and subscribe button like you do because we've said it but our set's looking really nice we're looking really nice feel free to drop a comment on what you think we all look the best in i look like a sexy hot librarian you are getting sexy hot librarians glasses noni i keep calling them your uh superman glasses okay super woman

Speaker 2 oh who is that who is that oh my gosh a limping room player lona mars thank you

Speaker 2 adriana's almost showing a scandalous amount of ankle yes stop it i'm so sorry what do you do i am so sorry i was wondering when i was gonna get those shoes back dog You left them in her house.

Speaker 2 You know why I left them? Somebody kept wearing them. They were right by the front door.
Okay, fine. I'll take them back.
No, because I'm bringing them. No.
Yeah. Watch your tone.
I'll take them back.

Speaker 2 Please, can I? Okay. You can't have them, but you may continue to watch them.
I haven't seen them off your feet. She was like, God, how they fit.
Can I pack these? I was like, you can't ask me.

Speaker 2 Those aren't mine. You can't ask Luna and she loves them.
Sorry.

Speaker 2 I love them. Guys, really quick, I think it's important to mention something here.

Speaker 2 We saw Zootopia 2.

Speaker 2 Yeah, a great film. Great film.
And it was a great film. Were you at all nervous? Of course, as there can be, because there's been some seconds where sequels where it's just the same movie, different.

Speaker 2 Like Moana 2 was very much so the same. Yeah.
Well, the first one in a slightly different format. This one I thought had a different sort of story.
I mean, still buddy cop and

Speaker 2 whatnot, but I thought it was great. The world building is so fun.
I just think it's such a fun, animated movie. I can't wait to show my kids that.
I was laughing out loud at multiple points.

Speaker 2 It was good. They've got like good callbacks.
Because it's also in the Disney universe. They can speak about so many other things.
Like it was so well done.

Speaker 2 They also had a lot of references to other films. I think there were like two shining references that we both kind of picked up on.
I was entertained from the moment it started. Great film.

Speaker 2 There was a point where I was like, How are they getting out of this? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Like, I've got so much faith in Judy Hopps, but this feels, this feels tough.

Speaker 2 Adriana tried to caption her Instagram post about, because we went to a private screening at Disney Animation Studios, which was a good thing. Because someone put up a stink.

Speaker 2 Because someone made it a story about not seeing it at the premiere, which actually works. Definitely works.
Be back

Speaker 2 and loud about what you're, you know, you feel strongly. What you love.
And Adrana tried to make a post about it last night. She tried to caption it, Sly Fox, Dumb Bunny, and Instagram won it letter.

Speaker 2 They were like. It was like,

Speaker 2 like similar captions have been reported. Reported for like harassment or internet bullying.
Sly Fox Dumb Bunny. So that's why she did

Speaker 2 flash 100-yard dash. Interesting.
Who's ruining that? Who's taking that joy away from people? Do you think they should have called it Teotopia for the second movie? No, that doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 2 I wonder if it's going to be Zootropolis, because some places it's Zootropolis.

Speaker 2 And then sometimes on Disney Plus, it shows up for me as Zootropolis. We used to.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, it doesn't. We just watched it.
We just watched it. Zootropopolis.
Zeutropolis. What's going on there? I don't know.
Maybe the third one will be called Zeutripolis.

Speaker 2 Enough. That was not even a good job of you.
Move on. Speaking of Teutopia, this reminds me of Now You See Me, Now You Don't.

Speaker 2 Because they actually just saw an interview because they're now just made the third one. But the second one, everyone was like, why didn't you call it Now You See Me, Now You Don't?

Speaker 2 Turns out like the marketing was like, you can't put don't in the title. Why?

Speaker 2 Just how it was like negative.

Speaker 2 And so they were finally able to do it for the third one.

Speaker 2 But I'm just like, you could have come up with something even cleverer for the third because you missed that opportunity. I'm excited for that one too.

Speaker 2 Those movies excite me. Yeah.
Do you ever sleight a hand? Have you ever done magic? Like, have you ever practiced? That feels like something you would have dabbled in. I've dated a magician.

Speaker 2 Did you dude?

Speaker 2 You dirty dog. You really did.
He had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Hey.

Speaker 2 Hey.

Speaker 2 Dog knows.

Speaker 2 Actually, sometimes he would show me me something, and I was like, that was actually a pretty cool trick. How did it end up in my back pocket?

Speaker 2 And the card was there. Maybe it was just a reason to touch my butt, but it worked.
There we go. It impressed me.
Was he just like card tricks or were there?

Speaker 2 I think he was like card tricks and he would like, you know, use them and he would like show them to kids as well, like as a fun way to do things. And

Speaker 2 some impressive stuff. I'm so confused how it works.
I do, I am too. I can't even shuffle a deck.

Speaker 2 I'm very bad at that. I can.

Speaker 2 what if i was secularly a magician this whole time oh my god what would my specialty be nope don't tell me let's move on uh it's easy to get wrapped up in holiday stress so this is your reminder to stay off the naughty list and touch some grass or should i say touch mistletoe

Speaker 2 you just you've got so many zingers yeah that aren't yeah wow zingers that aren't zinging today zingers that aren't yeah

Speaker 2 That's my cross to bear. Thank you to Perplexity for sponsoring this segment.
Perplexity, you're on the nice list.

Speaker 2 Going to the holidays, we've been spending a lot of time together, as most families do for the holidays. You're all back under one roof together, siblings, cousins, family,

Speaker 2 you know, for however amounts of time as you celebrate in whatever way you celebrate. Us, on the other hand, though, we've been under one roof for a couple weeks now, right?

Speaker 2 Living together while Alona gets a bit more established in Los Angeles, looking for a place for her. We're here recording this in Los Angeles.
So Adriana's been in town from

Speaker 2 New York City.

Speaker 2 How has this been, you guys? Alona is now finally in her own place, but it's been the three of us under one roof. How was this experience for you at my house?

Speaker 2 If I'm going to be honest, I loved it because

Speaker 2 it was just a really fun time. Like, yes, there were some annoyances of like, you know,

Speaker 2 sleeping on a bed would be nice. Oh, yeah.
She was on my couch.

Speaker 2 Or just like a little bit more alone time. But I think in general, like I talked to you guys about this, I was like, this is such a special and unique time.

Speaker 2 Like we don't know when we're going to be able to like ever do this again or if we will. And just like cherishing it.
And also we're luckily work well together.

Speaker 2 But we had a bit of a new girl Nick and Schmidt situation

Speaker 2 on our hands because as Alona was essentially moving out, because we were moving her into a new place, you know, a bunch of suitcases and stuff, I have like a razor.

Speaker 2 a razor blade like handle with an actual razor on it that I shave my legs and my pits and everything with that is on like my like soap shelf shelf in my shower that I've had for I think over a year now stay has stayed right there and the day Alona moves out that is gone.

Speaker 2 I bet that started as mine though. No dog.
You didn't think you went to the store and you bought that? I got that from your secret chute. I got gifted that.

Speaker 2 So it was tied to me though. It was, but yours has been in your drawer at my house.
They each have drawers at my house. So yours has been in there this whole time.
Well, I've been using that one. So

Speaker 2 so I'm literally in the shower the day she moves out. I'm like, that, that, that.
I go to come out like, what the hell like that was here before she got here So why is he gone now?

Speaker 2 So she took that and I made a wanted poster or a missing poster for it to be a pain in the ass because the two of them were at dinner and I sent it along blur my phone number

Speaker 2 She put a real phone number on it. Well, because it was going to these two So if they could let me know any information about where this razor blade might have gone That would be really helpful.

Speaker 2 And Adriana said, Alona believes there's a real Nick and Schmidt situation going on here, which is a reference to in New Girl, Nick has been using Schmidt's towel and Schmidt Nick's towel because they each think it's their own towel.

Speaker 2 So they've been using the same towel to dry their body.

Speaker 2 And Nick doesn't famously wash his towels because it washes him, you know? So we believe that that's been happening. We've both been using that razor this whole time and she took it as her own.

Speaker 2 But I, there, there I am, naked and afraid in the shower, missing my razor. And I'm like, this, I know this bitch took my razor thinking it's her.

Speaker 2 So I, dripping wet, I'm rummaging through her drawer of shit in my house and I find her handle and

Speaker 2 pop a new one on there. Yeah, popped up.
What was I supposed to do, dog? Or it was the new one from my collection?

Speaker 2 No, it was my collection of actual blades, please. I buy the really nice, luxurious ones.
Also, mind you, it's because I was going on a date.

Speaker 2 So there I am, naked afraid, going on a date, hairy as all hell.

Speaker 2 No razor in sight. We made it through.
Right, right. And then I had to follow up with, because you have a second razor.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I have the same one. And I was like,

Speaker 2 please tell me yours is the one on the top shelf and mine's on the bottom shelf. So you're kind of like, this is a really great time to tell you mine is the one down there.
Don't touch it.

Speaker 2 So wait, we'd be down. We shave raise.
We share razors sometimes. One thing I could never get down with is sharing toothbrushes.

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 2 People are doing this. It's never been on my radar.
I've just, yes, some people share.

Speaker 2 I remember seeing one reality star who was like, whenever she had her boyfriend's place, she always uses her boyfriend's toothbrush. I can't imagine using a man's toothbrush.
Yui.

Speaker 2 I don't even like sharing the same bottle of mouthwash. Yeah.
Well, that's a bit drastic, I think. Well, if people like put their lips right on it, right, right.

Speaker 2 Mom uses the Liserine. No, I haven't.
She just takes a shot right out of it. They're not measuring out of it.
That's a little alcohol in there, right?

Speaker 2 What's so funny, though, is like considering it's just kissing.

Speaker 2 The amount of like spit swapping you do kissing, like, I guess it's the same with tooth swapping. You're doing spit swapping.
You're not doing the grime between your teeth after eating swapping.

Speaker 2 You're picking up all the bacteria in the plaque.

Speaker 2 Also, can we confirm or deny if you kiss someone that has a cavity, it can give you a cavity? Perplexity.

Speaker 2 I heard this one. I didn't know.
And speaking of kissing and the holidays, not that I've ever done it, why is it like mistletoe? Why do we kiss under mistletoe? I?

Speaker 2 I gotta start.

Speaker 2 That's so cute. I think it's cute.
I think it's cute. I think it's cute too.
Why has it never happened? Why is it never around me?

Speaker 2 Hopefully around someone that I'd find attractive. But what is even the origin of it? What's the origin of this? Perplexity.
Ah, what's the origin of that?

Speaker 2 The tradition tradition of kissing under mistletoe originated in 18th century England, connecting older symbols of fertility and love with a playful holiday ritual that quickly spread through British and American culture.

Speaker 2 Are they fertile under the mistletoe? Yeah, I feel like this is just like, we gotta get the population up. Let's put some mistletoe up.

Speaker 2 The first documented reference to kissing under the mistletoe dates to 1784, an English poem, when it was reported that women should wait to be kissed beneath the plant at a holiday gathering by the Victorian era, the kissing bush, hold on, hold on, this is good, or mistletoe bow,

Speaker 2 bow, became popular in homes with bow, with each white berry representing a single allowed kiss, a tradition described by Washington Irving, Irvine, Irving, in the early 1800s. Kissing bush, eh?

Speaker 2 There's a joke to be made there, Olivia. Go.

Speaker 2 You maybe hit one? Let's see if she can hit one.

Speaker 2 It's a dance monkey.

Speaker 2 See,

Speaker 2 she, I got a bush. Somebody, something like

Speaker 2 that. Kiss it on my bush.

Speaker 2 Till I missile on his toe. I don't know.
Until he told my missile. What? What? Tilly, wet your whistle.
Till he wets my what?

Speaker 2 He, we.

Speaker 2 Oh.

Speaker 2 I got a bush you could kiss. Anyway, that's it.
That's it. A bushy could kiss under, you know.
Oh,

Speaker 2 oh,

Speaker 2 That's freaky.

Speaker 2 You got another one. No, that's it.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Perplexity. Today is special because our friends over at Death Wish Coffee are sponsoring the episode as well as a little round of a game we like to call Scrum, Mary, Kill.

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Speaker 2 Tackle your day with 25% off your first order at deathwishcoffee.com with code HouseOfoMar. Does anyone else feel like this year absolutely flew by?

Speaker 2 I can't believe it's the holidays, but I'm also really glad. Yeah, I definitely know, and I'm getting you both.
Definitely. I figured that out.
Right, totally. It's okay.

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Speaker 2 Did you guys hear that? What was that? I think it's the doorbell. We have company.

Speaker 2 It would be crazy to do an episode about romance without an actual number one New York Times best-selling romance author.

Speaker 2 Our fourth Mars sister today is a certified Renaissance woman who is as skilled with a frosting tip as she is with a friend's the lover's trope.

Speaker 2 She owns owns three bakeries and her books have sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. She has a knack for writing stories that make you laugh right before they make you cry.

Speaker 2 Her latest Say You'll Remember Me shot straight to number one. And she's here to talk about writing romance that feels as real and satisfying as the perfect cupcake.

Speaker 2 Let's give a warm welcome to Abby Jimenez. Hello!

Speaker 2 Welcome!

Speaker 2 Welcome!

Speaker 3 How are you?

Speaker 3 Good. I wish I was where you guys are.
It looks so cozy and Christmassy.

Speaker 3 Thank you. I'm in Minnesota.
Where are you? Is it warm where you guys are?

Speaker 2 Yeah, we're in L.A. It's quite nice.
Oh, man. But we're faking it here.
Cozy and holiday. It's probably more holiday where you are, right? Is it getting colder?

Speaker 3 I mean, I guess the weather, yes, but my house, no. I've got to get on that.

Speaker 2 Is there a favorite holiday song or album you always put on this time of year? Like, what are you and your girls listening to as you decorate?

Speaker 3 Oh, man.

Speaker 3 We just kind of shuffle like... the top 10 that re that always replaying of a bunch of different covers by different artists.
But I really like George Michaels this time of year. Like, I just

Speaker 3 worked a lot of retail.

Speaker 3 And that was one, you know, last Christmas was one song that I never got tired of.

Speaker 2 You love that song, Jay. Weren't you just talking about that? Yeah, I do.
And I also worked retail, and we would have to start listening to Christmas music in November.

Speaker 2 But luckily, we had control of like the music. It just had to be Christmas-themed.
That was the only role. So we would find all of like the indie covers and just like we had fun with it.

Speaker 2 So it wasn't like mind-numbing by the end of it, right?

Speaker 2 Right, right, right.

Speaker 2 All right, well, it is what we like to call, Abby, tea time. So, we're gonna dive right into the part of the show where we get to goss with our guest, which is you.

Speaker 2 And so, today we're gonna get ready for holiday break. And you're the expert.
So, what are some absolute must-ingredients for a great romance?

Speaker 3 Oh, gosh. I mean, you know, tension, yearning.

Speaker 3 For me, I really like a cinnamon roll hero. That's that's my preference.

Speaker 3 Especially for the holidays. I feel like I don't want to be, I don't know, I really do love like

Speaker 3 alpha whole romances, but not at Christmas time. Like I want, I want a sweet golden retriever hero at this time of year.

Speaker 2 What are some of the characteristics or like what defines a cinnamon roll hero?

Speaker 3 Oh man, thoughtful, sweet, emotionally intelligent, non-problematic,

Speaker 3 you know, considerate. If he bakes, that's a plus.
I love a man in a flannel.

Speaker 3 I love a bearded man in a flannel.

Speaker 2 You do love that. I've read some of your books.

Speaker 2 Now I see it. Now, not alcohol, but if there's a cinnamon,

Speaker 2 cinnamon roll character, can we still have a bit of a, like a grumpy for more of a grumpy sunshine, grumpy cinnamon roll? Or what are your thoughts there on the holidays?

Speaker 3 I do love a grumpy man for some reason. Yeah, I like them when they're grumpy, but

Speaker 3 only

Speaker 3 when they soften because with her. You know what I mean? Like they have to soften at some point.
They can't be grumpy the entire time. They have to get soft at some point.

Speaker 2 Of course.

Speaker 2 And she's there to melt them.

Speaker 2 Do you have an all-time favorite romantic scene from a book or movie or also one of your own books?

Speaker 3 Oh, gosh. Well, I do have a favorite scene in one of my books,

Speaker 3 which is the, I don't like want to give, I don't want to give any spoilers, but the, the baby raccoons scene in Just for the Summer is one of my all-time favorite scenes ever, mostly because it was narrated so beautifully.

Speaker 3 And it's hilarious. It makes me laugh.

Speaker 3 Gosh, I don't know. I have so many favorite romance scenes in books.

Speaker 3 I love anything that gives me the female gaze. You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 I think, like, for me, that's sort of where my sweet spot is when an author gives us a really good female gaze scene, you know, where there's yearning and he's...

Speaker 3 he's, you know, the eye contact and the and the pining. And that's, that's what I like.

Speaker 2 So So where does the Mr. Darcy hand flex rank for you then?

Speaker 3 Is that under the

Speaker 3 10 out of 10? 10 out of 10.

Speaker 2 Do you choose your narrator? So I like listening to books and it's so interesting to me how much impact a voice can have and it really can, you know, sell the character.

Speaker 2 I think I've even stopped reading like some books, not yours, of course, but other people's books when I just don't. like how it's voiced.

Speaker 2 Do you have a hand in that and choosing who you want to voice your characters?

Speaker 3 Yes, I am extremely involved. Not all authors are, but I'm extremely involved in my audiobooks because that is how.
I listen. That's how I read most of my books, this audiobook.

Speaker 3 So I handpick my narrators. I audition all my narrators.

Speaker 3 I get the first chapter, because I usually do two.

Speaker 3 I have a female and I always do dual POVs. I get the first narrated chapter when they start narrating the book just to make sure they've got the tone right,

Speaker 3 you know, that I'm liking how they're doing it so that I can get feedback.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I'm very, very active.

Speaker 2 I love I love a good narrated book and I will stop reading if it's not well narrated as well because I just can't that makes a lot of sense to hear how much care and attention to detail you put into that because when you finish a book you read it out loud yourself to your sister-in-law.

Speaker 3 Yes, I do

Speaker 3 because you hear so many things when you read it out loud versus like reading it with your eyeballs. It helps me pick up on pacing.
It helps me pick up on echoes. That's a big one.

Speaker 3 It tells me if, you know, there's dialogue that's clunky or awkward and needs to be redone.

Speaker 3 So yeah, as part of like my final process with my book, I will call my sister-in-law, Bessie, and for eight to 12 hours, I will read my book to her over the phone.

Speaker 3 And we do this every single book, and it really does help.

Speaker 2 Does she reread the book after it's published and finalized?

Speaker 3 She does, yeah.

Speaker 2 Does she pick up on like what's changed?

Speaker 3 She says that she cannot read my books via audiobook because she prefers me reading it, which is funny because I am a terrible narrator.

Speaker 3 I should never do this professionally ever people ask me sometimes why don't you narrate your book i'm like i don't think you understand these people are they are actors like they went to acting school to do this like

Speaker 3 yes i cannot

Speaker 3 i cannot no you don't want that trust me the people think they want it they don't want it um but for her she prefers hearing it narrated by me When I think of writers, you know, in the movies, the writers go to their writer's cottage and they, that's what they're doing for those weeks.

Speaker 2 They're focused on their book. For you, you write many books.
You also have another job. So what is writing like for you? Is it almost like, do you sit down?

Speaker 2 Okay, today I'm writing or is it you have an hour here? It's kind of continuously just adding to the story. How does it work?

Speaker 3 It used to be a lot more organic for me, like where I would, you know, just go on a walk and I would write on my phone while I'm on a walk. Or, you know, I would take an hour here, take an hour there.

Speaker 3 But these days, with how much I have going on, I really do have to be strategic about when I sit down and write.

Speaker 3 And, and I actually have to try and exit myself from my house and go somewhere different because my house is very loud.

Speaker 3 I have a very vocal hunting dog and I have a musician daughter who plays the accordion and the piano and the harp. And we're in a pretty small house right now.

Speaker 3 It's very loud here.

Speaker 3 So I, you know, lately I try and, you know, actually carve out time where I will go to the lake house and I'll, you know, write for the day and then come back and it's a little bit more structured.

Speaker 3 And I just, it's better when I do it that way. Things, I don't have to fix things, you know, because my brain is distracted.
Yeah, but I, I really do need a space.

Speaker 3 And I've, I've written all of these books. I've written all of these bestsellers and I don't even have, I don't have an office and I don't have a desk.

Speaker 2 Where are you sitting right now? What are you doing?

Speaker 3 I'm sitting in a corner in my living room.

Speaker 3 This is not an office. I can see my dining room.
I can see

Speaker 3 pretty much my whole house from here. Right.

Speaker 3 Yeah. So I actually told my husband, you know, like a year or two ago, I was like, who does this? Like, I'm, this is a full-time, this is a career.

Speaker 3 And I don't even have a place to sit and close a door and put my laptop on a desk and write. I'm sitting in my living room in like the international airport that is my house.

Speaker 3 And so we're actually doing a remodel on my home so that I can have an office. That's, that is what we're doing right now.

Speaker 2 So I feel like you deserve that

Speaker 2 years ago, but I'm happy it's happening now.

Speaker 3 Yeah. I finally put my foot down.
I was like, this is ridiculous. Who does this?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 I wish somebody would kidnap me and put me in a cabin with like no Wi-Fi and just bring drop-off food three times a day. I would get so much done.

Speaker 2 You get so much done. We've been talking about that.
We're trying to be better about our phones. We're like, there's so much we could do creatively if it weren't for our phones.

Speaker 2 We got to lock those things up. Maybe someone can lock us in a lake house.
I'm down. Do you guys want to go? Can we come to your lake house, actually? Yes.
It's a really good thing.

Speaker 2 We've got a lot of rooms. Speaking of romance, you're an amazing romance writer.
Your husband, how did you meet him? And did the, does he help craft these stories?

Speaker 2 Does he do those little romance things for you? Because I feel like you have to be thinking of a lot of romantic situations in life.

Speaker 2 Is that from imagination? Is that also reality?

Speaker 3 I do have a very

Speaker 3 cinnamon roll, emotionally intelligent husband. He comes with me.
He is literally like the wind beneath my wings.

Speaker 3 If anybody has ever come to see me at any book event, my husband is there, you know, taking all the photos of me. Actually, this man has probably taken like a million photos of me.

Speaker 3 I'm not even kidding.

Speaker 3 And I met him back in 20, it was 2022, January of 2022.

Speaker 3 No, I'm sorry, January of 2002. Sorry.
This is me.

Speaker 2 I was like, oh,

Speaker 3 no, no, no. We've been together for a long time.
And I got him searched by TSA at the airport. It was like this, I'm not even kidding.
It was like this total rom-com.

Speaker 3 Meet, meet cute. We both worked for a women's clothing store, and it was right after September 11th.
And we had been flown. We both lived in in California, but I had never met him.

Speaker 3 And he worked in a different district and everything. And we had both been flown to Ohio for this conference.
And I was introduced to him briefly at this conference.

Speaker 3 I thought he was cute, but just sort of forgot about him. And then when we were flying back home, you know, it was right after September 11th, there was this huge security line.

Speaker 3 And he was ahead of me in the line by like 15 people or something. And he dropped a soda.
And the soda like exploded everywhere. So I noticed him again.

Speaker 3 And then when he got to the front, they like pulled him aside. This is back when they had like the clear boxes.

Speaker 3 You know, they didn't have like the rule that you can't wear Belt-in-shoes and stuff going through security. Well, they pulled him out and they searched him, so I noticed him again.

Speaker 3 And then, uh, when we were waiting at the gate to board, I was sitting with a mutual friend of ours, and a man came up to my friend, I didn't know this guy, and said, Hey, they're boarding my row, and they're being really strict about carry-ons.

Speaker 3 And so-and-so gave me his messenger bag to hold. And they won't let me board my row because I have an extra bag.
Can you just hold it?

Speaker 3 Because a guy went to the food court to get a burrito, and you know, we

Speaker 3 can't board with this extra bag. So we took this bag, and I just assumed that my friend knew who owned this bag,

Speaker 3 but I guess he didn't. So, then they started boarding our row, and now we had an extra bag.
So, we went up to security

Speaker 3 and we were like, so we have this bag that's moving bus.

Speaker 2 Not post 9-11, too.

Speaker 3 This is right after 9-11, literally the January after 9-11. I'm anxious.

Speaker 3 I know. And we were like, so we have this bag and we don't know whose bag this is.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 we can't get on because we have an extra bag. They were like, wait, you didn't pack this bag? And we're like, no.
And they're like, you don't know whose bag it belongs to? We're like, no.

Speaker 3 So they called security and they confiscated this bag. And, you know, my friend and I got on the plane and we're sitting in our row.

Speaker 3 And then 20 minutes later, my now husband boards and he's got the bag. And he's completely disheveled.
Okay. He's holding his shoes.
His belt's undone. His shirt's untucked.
His hair is tossed.

Speaker 3 And he's holding this messenger bag. And he stops in our row and like kind of leans in, you know, on the seat in front of us and goes, you guys will not believe what happened.

Speaker 3 I gave my bag to Alex and Alex gave my bag to some stranger and they gave it to security. He's like, I got searched.
He's like, I got interrogated.

Speaker 3 And my friend and I were like, oh my God, don't tell him, don't tell him. Like we were like elbowing each other in the seat.
And then my husband ended up sitting in the row behind us.

Speaker 3 And the plane was very empty because everybody was still afraid to fly. So it was like this hugely empty plane, me and my friend.
And then my husband all by himself in a row behind us.

Speaker 3 And he ended up leaning over the seat and like, you know, talking to me. And I said, why don't you just come sit next to us?

Speaker 3 So he came and sat next to us and we talked the whole way, the whole way home. And that's how I met my husband.

Speaker 2 That's beautiful. That is crazy.
I love that.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I got him searched by TSA. And I didn't tell him until like we were engaged.

Speaker 2 I waited. What was his reaction when you did tell him? Did he ever have an inkling or was?

Speaker 3 No, he was like, are you serious? And I'm like, unfortunately, I am. Yes.

Speaker 2 I am

Speaker 3 dead serious. Yeah.

Speaker 2 So now, when you notice romance in your everyday life, are you taking notes? Are you saving that for future stories?

Speaker 2 Are you, you know, when you notice in other people or in your own relationship, how does that work for you?

Speaker 3 I definitely do draw from real life. You know, like people ask me.

Speaker 3 People think that the type of men that I write are fictional. And I know they're not fictional because I have one.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 You know, just a lot of the thoughtful things that my husband does in our marriage and just in, you know, in his life in general, I definitely infuse into my heroes.

Speaker 3 You know, just like little things like my husband will never be the first person to serve himself food anywhere.

Speaker 3 He will always serve himself last because he wants to make sure that everybody else at the party, whether it's our party or not, has eaten and has had enough to eat before he will serve his own food.

Speaker 3 You know, just like little things that I feel like can't really be taught. They're just like innately, you know, considerate.

Speaker 3 That's very much him. So it's not hard for me to imagine these men, you know, and create these situations with these men because I live it.
You know what I mean? And I think a lot of

Speaker 3 you really popular romance authors do. You know, I know that

Speaker 3 Rebecca Yarls is in a really beautiful marriage. You know, there's so many of these authors that just like they, it's easy for them to create these characters because they see it.

Speaker 3 They're in a very healthy marriage themselves.

Speaker 2 I've read your books and a lot of them are fade to black too. So it's interesting to me because I read all sorts of books, but

Speaker 2 why you made that choice to do more fade to black?

Speaker 2 And then also what's, you know, romance versus intimacy and how are they different and how can you, because I think there are so many people that want that in stories, but yet you've still created beautiful stories without having that,

Speaker 2 the other stuff in it.

Speaker 3 I think, well, for me, I think if I was better at writing those scenes, I probably would write more spicy scenes, but I just don't feel like I'm very good at it.

Speaker 3 And there's so many authors who are very good at it. You know what I mean? Like I was just reading or rereading Tangled in Tinsel by Tralina Pucci, which is a Y Choose

Speaker 3 Christmas romance, and she's so good at it. You know what I mean? Like, write that down.
I feel like,

Speaker 3 you know, and I, and for my books, I personally really like the emotional attachment better.

Speaker 3 I feel like that's where I really shine, and I'd rather put my energy into writing that than writing spicy scenes that I feel like I'm not very good at.

Speaker 3 But yeah, for me, it's just, it's the emotional attachment. And I, you know, I think I'm going to lean more towards lower spice as I go on

Speaker 3 and just sort of like up the yearning side of it because that's just what I really enjoy writing, you know?

Speaker 2 We want to get into

Speaker 2 your baking. We are, I, I mean, I think most people find this very interesting when they learn that you are a baker, you are a, you know, a bakery owner, uh, you bake for your other author friends.

Speaker 2 Um, when this came before your writing, or were you always writing? What came first, the chicken or the egg, the cupcake or the book?

Speaker 3 I started writing in high school, creative writing, and then I stopped for a really, really long time.

Speaker 3 Mostly because I was just busy working and living my life. I didn't have time for hobbies, basically, which is what writing was for me in the beginning at any rate.

Speaker 3 No, I started, I always loved to bake. I'm Sicilian.
I grew up in an Italian household. You know, baking and desserts was always a big part of every meal and tradition.

Speaker 3 And what ended up happening was I ended up losing my job when I was 27 years old. I was pregnant with my third baby in three years, and I very unexpectedly lost my job at six months pregnant.

Speaker 3 And I was devastated. I was very lost.
I loved my job. I

Speaker 3 never wanted to do anything else. I really loved retail.
And I ended up taking some cake decorating classes at a local Michael's just to sort of make myself feel better, distract myself.

Speaker 3 You're like, oh, now I have time. And time is in quotes because I already had two small babies at home at this time.
But I started taking these cake decorating classes and

Speaker 3 realized that

Speaker 3 I had a sort of a flair for decorating.

Speaker 3 And then after I had my baby, I told my husband, what if I made some cakes from the house for a couple of months just to sort of like pay the grocery bill until we figure out what we're going to do?

Speaker 3 Cause we couldn't afford for me to not work. So that's what I did.
And I started Naughty Ye Kicks Out of My House with a newborn, a one-year-old, and a two-year-old, all in diapers.

Speaker 3 It was the hardest two years of my life. I had carpal tunnel in both hands.

Speaker 3 And I did by myself for two years out of my home what now takes four full-time people to do in my bakeries. I baked every cake.

Speaker 3 I did every delivery, every consultation, all the billing, all the decorating. I did everything.

Speaker 3 And I did it with three little babies while my husband worked full-time, you know, commuting two hours each way down to LA from where we lived, you know.

Speaker 3 to work his retail job. And after about a year and a half of this, I was like, I can't keep doing this.
Like people that do what I'm doing have a bakery or a daycare. I was chronically exhausted.

Speaker 3 And my husband was like, Well, why don't we open a bakery? And so we ended up, um,

Speaker 3 you know, those advance checks that you get for your credit cards where it's like 0% interest for 12 months, right?

Speaker 2 The thing they keep emailing me about.

Speaker 3 We had really good credit. We couldn't get a loan because this was 2009 and they weren't giving out money.
But we had really good credit.

Speaker 3 So we laid those checks out on the bed and we wrote out $125,000 on our advance checks and opened up the first Naughty Cakes location in pondo california and the day we opened it we were so broke we didn't even have money to put change in the cash register we were that broke like we had we had nothing it was like the month we were gonna not make our house payment not make our car payments like

Speaker 3 and we were the minimums we were paying on these credit cards was astronomical and we opened immediate success like all the people that came and held my baby while i filled out their order form they all came and they supported and three weeks later my husband quit his job to come be the cfo of naughty Cakes.

Speaker 3 Like, and this is what I mean when I say, like, you know, to have these non-toxic men in your life, right? Like, my husband saw that I had the good idea and he was not threatened by that.

Speaker 3 He was not intimidated by that.

Speaker 3 He immediately quit what he was doing to lift up the business that I started because it was what was best for our family.

Speaker 3 And I always tell him, like, you know, we wouldn't have.

Speaker 3 We wouldn't have any of the things that we have today if my husband had not been the support that he is for me in all of my endeavors and all of my careers, um, and the nadia cakes, you know, we started going on TV shows, going on fabulous cakes on TLC for two seasons, and we went on cupcake wars, and I won.

Speaker 3 Um, we moved to Minnesota. I know it was, it was, oh, those shows are so real.
I could never do

Speaker 3 like, I still get, they still message me and they're like, You want to come on this reality show? I'm like, Absolutely not, unless you want to judge. I'll come judge, you know, I'll be the nice one.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 3 yeah, but I'm not, I'm, oh, they're so real. Like, the competitions are absolutely exhausting, um,

Speaker 3 stressful.

Speaker 3 I mean, it, it's, as you know, you, I mean, you've been on a really reality show, you know.

Speaker 2 She knows. She knows competition vibe.
Good lord.

Speaker 3 Yeah. So anyway, we, we moved to, we moved to Minnesota.
We ended up opening up two more locations. And then once I had those bakeries up and running, I was very burnt out on the cakes.

Speaker 3 I decided to take a step back from the business and be more administrative, let my managers run my stores. And that's when I just started writing creatively again.

Speaker 3 And that's how I got my writing start. You know, I picked it up at 36 years old and started writing and ended up with a book deal.
And it all happened really, really fast.

Speaker 3 And I just, I can't even believe where my life is right now, to be honest. Like I, I pinch myself all the time.

Speaker 2 A labor of love that you poured into that to be where you are. Pinch yourself.
You also deserve it so much.

Speaker 2 And like I get asked the question, how do you deal with imposter syndrome? I hope you don't have that. No.
Because that or not. Really worked.
No. don't.
You deserve absolutely everything you have.

Speaker 2 Oh my God. And so you've also announced a collection of three interconnected Christmas holiday novellas coming out in the fall of next year, though.
What can you tell us about them?

Speaker 3 So they're very cute. I'm not going to make you cry at Christmas.
I know all of my books, all of my books always have a lot of depth to them.

Speaker 3 And they, you know, they make you laugh and they make you cry. That's, that's my thing.

Speaker 3 Um, but I decided I'm not making anybody cry at Christmas because we're already seeing our family a ton and it's very stressful.

Speaker 3 And I just, we don't need to be crying over a little funny rom-com collection.

Speaker 3 So the moment of inception for this was I was thinking about the Hallmark movies or you know and how you know this big city girl goes off to this small town and meets this boy and then just like leaves everything behind to go and and you know marry him.

Speaker 3 And like, what if there was a sane best friend? Right. Like what if, what if you are the best friend and your best friend calls you and says, I met this man in this small town three days ago.

Speaker 3 We're getting married. I'm leaving the firm.
And like, you know, what would you as the best friend say to that, right? So that is the premise for A Married Little Christmas.

Speaker 3 There's three short stories. They all interconnect.
And this

Speaker 3 sort of poking fun at the Hallmark franchise is the last of the three stories.

Speaker 3 You know, this woman goes up there to convince her best friend not to marry the Rando that she just met three days ago. And her best friend will not be convinced.
And, you know, she's at the bar,

Speaker 3 you know trying to think of her next move what is she gonna do and she meets a man at the bar next to her and he is the best friend of the groom who was also there to convince his best friend not to marry the random woman he just met three days ago so they team up to break up their friend's marriage because you can't fall in love in three days or can you or can you

Speaker 2 that's amazing oh that's exciting well i'm excited to read that when it comes out in 2026 we'll be ready for it i'm ready i'm ready now if you want to slip me anything i'm just kidding

Speaker 2 Now that we've just had a total love fest about romance novels, we're going to touch a bit about what you're reading right now and what we call the book no.

Speaker 2 So, are you currently reading anything at the moment?

Speaker 3 So, I have just downloaded the Home Sweet Holidays collection on Amazon. It's four short stories.
Mia Sosa, who's one of my favorites, Allie Rossen's in there.

Speaker 3 And it's just four short Christmas

Speaker 3 stories. I love those because then I can like tick off my TBR and get four.
I get four books checked off and it's just one collection.

Speaker 3 And then I'm doing my reread of Tangled and Tinsel, which I do every year by Trilia Pucci. She is another one that does really good audiobooks.
Also very involved in her audiobooks.

Speaker 3 She's got, you know, multiple narrators for each character. They're really great narrators.
So I like to just kind of put that in

Speaker 3 when I'm baking cookies and stuff.

Speaker 3 So that's what I'm working on right now.

Speaker 2 And you read that every year around the holidays?

Speaker 3 I do. I like to reread it.
It's like my comfort read because she's so funny. Like she's just so funny.
I really like,

Speaker 3 and I like how she does spice. Like, it's just one of those books that I can put in my ear and

Speaker 3 it's like the background to like my holiday things that I'm doing in the kitchen usually.

Speaker 2 I love it. So you're mostly audiobooking or are you ever, do you have a physical book in front of you? And if so, what are you physically reading versus listening to?

Speaker 3 I'm very rarely physically reading unless I'm blurbing because books that they want blurbs for don't have audiobooks yet, you know, because you blurb so far in advance of publication.

Speaker 3 It's like 99%

Speaker 3 audiobooks for me.

Speaker 2 Is it romance audiobooks or are you on thrillers or memoirs? Just all of it.

Speaker 3 I really like

Speaker 3 memoirs, and I cannot for the life of me remember the last one that I read. I read Matthew Perry's book in the last year.

Speaker 2 Do you have a favorite memoir?

Speaker 3 Oh, gosh.

Speaker 3 I'm Glad My Mom Died. That

Speaker 2 was awesome. I heard that was great.
Whoa. Yeah.
And I listened to that one too, having it read by

Speaker 2 her. I was like, whoa, that was big.
That was very well done. Guys, not to be dumb here.
What is blurbing?

Speaker 2 That's a great question. Abby, what's blurry? I have someone that can answer that for you here.
Abby, what is blurry?

Speaker 2 Nodding my head like, I know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 So when you pick up, when you pick up a book and then on the cover, it says, like,

Speaker 3 you know, Mia Sosa's is always one of my lifetime reads, you know, whatever. That's a blurb.
So it's when you put your money,

Speaker 2 nobody else.

Speaker 3 Yes, exactly. Yep, that's it.

Speaker 2 And it's by like various authors. Got it.
Very cool. Good to know.
I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 Abby, I'm kind of writing a book, and it'll maybe come out some, like it's going to come out in many years, but I've been starting to write. So I'll give you an advanced copy.
You can blurb, okay?

Speaker 3 Get blurbed. I'll absolutely take you up on that.

Speaker 2 Again, I've been writing it for a while, but I'm not done writing it. But I think I also wanted to have my tone because it's definitely written by an athlete.

Speaker 2 It's written by somebody who's not a writer, but has a lot to say. So I'm following your footsteps and hopefully we'll have a bestseller on our hands at some time.

Speaker 2 You already talked to us about the shirt that you're wearing, but not to the audience yet.

Speaker 3 I read band books.

Speaker 2 Hot.

Speaker 2 Amazing shirt. And I think that's something we all here fully support.
A wide plethora of books. Before we go, your website says 2026 dates to be announced.
Is there something you want to tell us?

Speaker 2 A book tour on the horizon or something fun?

Speaker 3 Oh, wow. I'm going to be doing a lot less stops.
So this year, I was telling my husband,

Speaker 3 we have taken 19 round trip flights this year on book tour.

Speaker 3 We have gone to different countries.

Speaker 3 I'm very, very burnt out. So I'm going to be doing fewer stops next year, but I will be doing larger venues to try and

Speaker 3 counteract like the we sold out in 22nd thing that's been happening at the FBC events that I've been doing.

Speaker 3 I will be having a very, very large

Speaker 3 book launch for the night we met in my home city of Minneapolis. And I will be revealing my 1966 Dodge Dark Convertible, which is the car that I wrote into Sayo Remember Me.

Speaker 3 I bought one for myself because I used to drive one when I was 16.

Speaker 3 I bought one for myself and I'm having it restored. And the restoration is absolutely stunning.
It's going to be

Speaker 3 literally one of a kind when it's done. And I'm going to be unveiling the car at that event.
So that's a fun one.

Speaker 3 So if people, you know, if you've ever considered flying to see me at any events, I would definitely recommend making it that one because there's going to be a lot of really cool extras and things like that.

Speaker 2 That's awesome. That's really cool.
Well, thank you so much for coming over to our house, Abby.

Speaker 2 You can find Abby Jimenez's say you'll remember me in stores and online now and pre-order the night we met, which will be everywhere in March.

Speaker 2 You can also follow her at author Abby Jimenez on TikTok and Instagram. Thanks for coming over there.
Thank you so much, Abby.

Speaker 2 She looks unbelievable. I just wanted to say you're glowing, you're radiant.
I got to figure out how you do your hair. I love it.

Speaker 3 Oh, thank you so much. I was like doing battle with it before it started.
I'm like, it's so big.

Speaker 2 Why is it so good? Dude, it's coarse. No, but we better.
I'm staring at it.

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So let's play a game to warm up.

Speaker 2 We are big fans of rom-coms and you may have seen our episode ranking some rom-com tropes. This time we are going to hit a few holiday romance tropes.

Speaker 2 We're going to get seven rom-com tropes and rate them one through seven, one being the best, but we won't know what the rest are when we make each choice. You got it? Yep.
Let's do this thing.

Speaker 2 Number one. Snowed in together.
Ooh.

Speaker 2 You love this one. You said you've recently, you've been reading a lot.
I love it. Oh.
But I've read them.

Speaker 2 I enjoy them. What's one that you've read? I have a great one.
Who? It's a billionaire one.

Speaker 2 And she, well, I guess it's not really Snowden so much.

Speaker 2 If it's the one I'm thinking about. I would say, but it's where she has to go to this lake house with her sister.
Oh my gosh, there's a hot billionaire there. What the heck? What?

Speaker 2 And he's so annoying. What? And then they're trapped there together because

Speaker 2 the car gets, and so they're trapped.

Speaker 2 Is it there snow? Is it car-trapped? Car-trapped, but I'm calling that Snowden. Okay.

Speaker 2 okay i'm calling that trapped in i also just read another book where they did get snowed in which one duke duke of the cash series

Speaker 2 oh

Speaker 2 so i like snowed in i'd give it a three three okay we're ranking snowden as a three out of seven i am i would say four because it's forced to three enforced proximity is is another term for it right yeah but i like a forced proximity more when

Speaker 2 Okay, we'll go three. We'll go three.

Speaker 2 Go three. We got to be confident.
Interconnected love stories

Speaker 2 what does this mean like when it's cash and then all of a sudden you hear about wyatt's story and that's going to be the next one so it's one world

Speaker 2 they're interconnected but separate here's my deal with those oh we're all now finding the loves of our lives right connected in a short amount of time even though the billionaire series is extra okay

Speaker 2 I'm not that into it. I do.
I love it. Like Windy City series.
That's a good one. I mean, I'm going to say it.
Immortals After Dark. Oh, interesting.

Speaker 2 And we were saying that at the exact same time because what I love is you get to love these characters in one book and then you're reading the next and you hear about how they're doing and you're like, hi, my darlings.

Speaker 2 I love you. Are you guys still in love? Are you still fucking like crazy? Happy for you.
So I love it. Here's the plot of Immortals After Dark.
They're magical creatures and they're fucking.

Speaker 2 And they be fucking. And they be fucking.
There's diamonds, there's Zockries, there's vampires, there's witches, there's succubus.

Speaker 2 There's phantoms, there's phantoms,

Speaker 2 I personally think it's a great series. There's like a Gajilla, I've read many of them, and they were started.
She started them in like the 90s or something like that.

Speaker 2 I can read them over and over again. Yeah.
They're set in New Orleans. So one of the best characters ever written in literature is in that Nick.
Snakes. Snakes.

Speaker 2 Okay, maybe I guess this three and Snowden four.

Speaker 2 You can't

Speaker 2 chain rank. I don't know what the other one's going to be.

Speaker 2 You can't chain. Fine, do what you want.
We can't rank. Like Snowden together, we can't touch.
So

Speaker 2 interconnected love stories.

Speaker 2 Two, fine. Two.
Let's go quick. I'm sorry, way too high.
This is fucking crazy.

Speaker 2 That's why I said four. She's stressed.
I said we could do four. I know, but why am I if you're both agreeing on it anyway? Fake dating.
Fake dating.

Speaker 2 I'm actually like, I read a lot of fake dating ones, but sometimes it's just.

Speaker 2 I'm like, get get married at that point and just be in a.

Speaker 2 What do you mean? Like, I prefer more of like

Speaker 2 a fake marriage almost. Marriage of convenience, if you will.
A marriage of convenience. So fake dating for the holiday.
And especially for the holidays.

Speaker 2 Adorno's like, you're not faking it hard enough. Just get married.

Speaker 2 Right. You know which one I do love is that...

Speaker 2 Emma Roberts movie. Is that Holiday? That's a good one.
Where they're each other's dates for all the holidays.

Speaker 2 I don't know it. It's a beautiful movie.
What? There's also a movie like that. I think it's Professional Plus One or something.
It's that girl from Pen 15. There's also one where

Speaker 2 they're both going to a lot of like Indian weddings. And so there's so many events after that.
So then they start going to that together. Ugh.
Anyway. So where are we ranking it?

Speaker 2 I feel like it's like a six. Do it.
Six. I like how confident you guys were with that.
Home for the holidays, second chance for me. I don't read a lot of these.

Speaker 2 I like to be there when they meet. Unless there's crazy groveling on the guy's side, of course.
You freak for that.

Speaker 2 Hmm.

Speaker 2 I don't read a lot of these. It's a seven.

Speaker 2 If you didn't work once, I'm sorry. Is the spirit of Christmas really going to solve everything, you know? Right.
Yeah, seven. Christmas miracle.

Speaker 2 Would this be like what's the one with the girl from Game of Thrones and then the guy from

Speaker 2 Crazy Rush Asians?

Speaker 2 Oh, the

Speaker 2 long one. And then he's

Speaker 2 crazy spoilers. Don't spoil it.
Everybody, believe what she's saying. What's that movie?

Speaker 2 Is it last Christmas?

Speaker 2 Is that Christmas? I think that's Christmas Miracle. Movie?

Speaker 2 Could you show her the cover of that, please? It's She Got a Tramp. The girl with the Big Smile.
Amelia Clark. Yeah.
And then the hot guy from Crazy Rush Asians. It's Christmas Miracle.

Speaker 2 Hemer and Goldman. That one.
Remember that one? Did you watch that? Oh, I don't think I watched that one. I

Speaker 2 don't really.

Speaker 2 Maybe that's a good one. That would be my seven.
I don't know about Christmas Miracle. Sorry.
I don't. It's fluffy to me.
Give it a five.

Speaker 2 No, it's a six. Well, we, oh, we already gave a six away, Olivia.
So, what do we have left? Four and one?

Speaker 2 Five. Give it a five.
Okay. We're Christmas Miracle is five, punkish.
Let's go.

Speaker 2 Stop.

Speaker 2 One and four. Okay.
Airport love

Speaker 2 declaration.

Speaker 2 If it took

Speaker 2 yeah, if it took them like leaving, so you finally do something.

Speaker 2 Tour?

Speaker 2 So that means this last one is going to be one of them. I'm already mad.
No, I'm mad already. Workaholic, girl, boss, and sensitive boy.

Speaker 2 You know what? That is the holiday trope. Oh, like girl takes her time off, goes to a cottage.
Yeah, goes back to her hometown, whatever. That's the holiday.
And the spirit of Christmas fixes her.

Speaker 2 I feel like that's okay as number one. Just because it's all the stuff.
We watch it. We do it anyway.

Speaker 2 I all sometimes like workaholic girl Boss and like Grumpy Boy, though. Yeah, Grumpy Man.
Right, right, right, right. And she's like, May, me, me.

Speaker 2 Yeah, thank you. That was really descriptive.

Speaker 2 I,

Speaker 2 yeah, I like that.

Speaker 2 Workaholic Girl Boss. It has to be number one.
I'm happy. I'm fine with it.
Because if I'm not, I'm going to be angry. So I don't read a lot of holiday books, to be honest.
Anyway,

Speaker 2 I read that one. She's an adult.
Merry Little Meat Cute. Merry Little Meat Cute.
If you want to read a sexy holiday book this year, Mary Little Meat Cute. She is a thick queen,

Speaker 2 possibly

Speaker 2 adult matrices.

Speaker 2 And she gets a role in a movie, I think. Yep.

Speaker 2 And her co-star loves her. Yeah.
He watches her stuff. Ah, ah! As I'm saying it out loud, I'm like, what the heck? What the? And that was actually a pretty thick book.
It was actually kind of fun.

Speaker 2 It's a fun book. If you want to read it,

Speaker 2 I find holiday romance books to be very fluffy, but that's why you do it. You keep it light and you keep it easy.
Is her being thick in the book kind of like a big plot? Great point.

Speaker 2 I don't think it is. It's definitely, there are those books where you're like, and you know, it's the inner dialogue of the character.

Speaker 2 And since I've always been so big, and since she says that five times in one chapter, I'm like, chill out, girl. Shut up.
I'm getting a child. We get your thick queen.

Speaker 2 All right. Anyway.
I don't like that. I just think that the sometimes author wants you to really, really tell you how big she is.

Speaker 2 And to point, like, she's not like, oh, but you know, this is actually a big character. You're probably not going to see it.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 see this character did something here and sometimes it comes across as

Speaker 2 that the author can't even believe that she's beautiful or that you shouldn't believe that they are beautiful that it's just because like that one person just loves them and i'm just

Speaker 2 it's i understand

Speaker 2 like having a more of a body focused book or yeah

Speaker 2 when that's a huge thing about the character of like they are overcoming like say like an eating disorder or something.

Speaker 2 But if it's just supposed to be like an aside that just keeps getting dropped so casually, I think it's so just

Speaker 2 dangerous and harmful for readers

Speaker 2 to be constantly absorbing that. Like, now I'm at a point where I'm just like, why the fuck are you including that? Like, I don't, like, she's like, oh, I could barely pull up these pants.
What?

Speaker 2 What?

Speaker 2 Interesting. And I feel like if that's on the flip, too, when characters are just so small.
Oh, my God. And they're just so.

Speaker 2 She's so frail. She's so frail.
His hands went all the way twice around her wrists. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 All right, get out of here. Why? Ooh.
I don't know. Yeah, there's like two extremes on the spectrum.
Well, I will still be reading a themed holiday book this year because it's what I do every year.

Speaker 2 Thanks so much for coming over to the House of Mar, a Wave Original. Be sure to watch and subscribe on YouTube and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 Plus, follow the show on social media at House of Mar for clips and behind-the-scenes content. Thanks for coming over.
Go put up your Christmas tree. Yeah, put up your Christmas tree.

Speaker 2 Hang some tinsel. All right.
Make sure to water the tree, too. Water the tree.
Get freaky under it. Like every two days or something, or else all the pine needles are going to fall onto your floor.

Speaker 2 Okay. Catch on fire.
That's going to sound great when you vacuum, though. Bye.
Stay cozy. Love you.