Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone | Can two roommates keep their connection completely in the realm of the arts

1--What is the title of your latest release?

A JINGLE BELL MINGLE

2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?

Fresh off an unforgettable (but definitely not to be repeated) one night stand, the creatively blocked screenwriter Sunny Palmer abruptly needs a place to live. And luckily for them both, her one-night stand partner (the reclusive boy band heartthrob Isaac Kelly) has plenty of room for her and her grumpy cat in his mansion. But in a world of Christmas miracles and inns with only one bed, can these two wildly different roommates really keep their connection completely in the realm of the arts?

3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?

A Jingle Bell Mingle takes place in Christmas Notch, Vermont, the small town at the center of our last two novels. We’ve known since book one that we wanted Isaac to end up in the town’s 19th Century mansion overlooking the valley, and so we decided to completely commit and make the romance a roommates-to-lovers tale.  But the story at large is still in our beloved every-day-is-Christmas small town, and since this book is our Christmas Notch farewell tour, we made sure to visit the adorable post office and library and Christmas Market (including a photo booth that sees some…canoodling…between our main characters) too.

4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?

We are dying for Sunny Palmer to become real so she can be our best friend.  She’s hilarious and loyal and always game for an adventure.  What more could you want?

Isaac, on the other hand, doesn’t want to hang out with anybody (except Sunny). So we won’t bother with him.

5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?

Sunny: Loyal, cheerful, messy.

Isaac: Brooding, tender…messier.

6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?

Vermont state law doesn’t permit adult establishments with complete, ah, unclothedness.  The good citizens of Vermont have to drive to Montreal for that.

We also learned more than we wanted about Capri Suns.

7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?

We edit each other as we go, so once one of us writes a chapter, the other is right behind with notes and questions. It’s nice because it allows us to be really dynamic if we need to add something or change the direction of the story.

8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?

Julie: I have so many, but one of my favorites is king cake bread pudding served at a little restaurant on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I’m also a fan of deviled eggs in any and all forms.

Sierra: Snow beef. I’ve only had it twice in my life, and each time I could tell you exactly who was in the room with me, what they were wearing, what the weather was that day.  Life-changing.

9--Describe your writing space/office!

Julie: I just moved! So currently my writing space is stacks upon stacks of boxes, but when it’s done, I’ll be in a walkout basement with a backyard full of tall trees. I’ve got a great couch which is perfect for writing and napping. But mostly napping—or creative dreaming as I prefer to call it. I’ve also got my desktop set up overlooking the backyard and a table for when I have friends over to write with me. I’ve had all kinds of makeshift offices over the years, but this one is pretty dreamy. My three cats seem to agree.

Sierra: I have a smallish office that’s made even smaller by too many bookcases, but I love it because the windows open right to some trees and I can hear them rustling in the breeze as I write. I typically have 1 – 2 giant dogs wedged around my feet while I work.

10--Who is an author you admire?

Julie: I adore Nisha Sharma. Not only is her work absolutely binge worthy and full of heart, steam, and effortless banter, but OMG—she is so smart. Not only is Nisha blessing our bookshelves, but she’s also truly invested in the romance community and making publishing a more equitable space. Her work is so deeply clever and full of characters who live rent free in my head.

Sierra: I am deeply in love with Angelina C. Lopez.  I think her work fuses intimacy, growth, and magic in a way that transforms a book from one that you’re merely reading into a book that lives inside your brain and heart.  Her prose is like a spell, bringing the whole story to life around you—if you want to feel the sun on your skin or taste a melted popsicle on your tongue or see in vivid clarity a lover’s hair under the moonlight, Lopez makes each and every paragraph like a living moment you’re inside of.

11--Is there a book that changed your life?

Julie: There are two! An extra credit essay on And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is the only reason I graduated high school and time and it also broke my reading dry spell that had lasted all throughout high school. The other is God Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo because it just changed the depth at which I could feel a book sink into my bones.

Sierra: It’s an embarrassingly common answer, but Jane Eyre. When I read it at 11 or 12, it rewired my brain and molded me into the reader and writer that I am today.

12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.

Julie: Ooooh, let’s see. It was Memorial Day weekend, and I knew my book was going to acquisitions the Tuesday after the holiday. I was so, so terrified. I went swimming with some friends on that Monday and got a little too acquainted with a jug of Sangria and forgot to reapply sunscreen. So on Tuesday afternoon, when my agent called with the news, I was nursing a hangover and a very gnarly sunburn. The news felt better than any amount of aloe vera ever could.

Sierra: I’d had a prior life as a traditionally published young adult author, so once I started writing the stories that would become the Markham Hall series (my first series as Sierra Simone), I knew I had a choice to make. Did I want to see if I could convince the traditional market to read something that there wasn’t a lot of comps for, something that there didn’t seem to be a lot of reader appetite (and therefore publisher appetite) for? Or would I rather self-publish, and know that I could afford to be more nimble and specific with my strategy because I didn’t have the same kind of overhead and institutional inertia as a publisher?  I decided to self-publish, and even now when I’m partnering with publishers for various projects, I still deeply believe in the power of self-publishing. Especially for stories that are a little off the beaten track.

13--What’s your favorite genre to read?

Julie: Romance! Whether it’s YA or adult, I love romance. I’m also a big fan of celebrity memoirs—the trashier the better.

Sierra: Romance, obviously!  Historical romance, speculative romance, dark romance, and contemporary with some kind of twist, either humor or kink or extreme emotional intensity. I also love a non-fiction book that’s going to leave me with lots of trivia and factoids (Butt: A Backstory is a recent fave.)

14--What’s your favorite movie?

Julie: Ahhhh! This question is a tough one. It’s always changing. I guess at the moment I would have to say Booksmart.

Sierra: This answer changes a lot between a handful of movies, but right now, it’s probably Gladiator. Shadows and dust!

15--What is your favorite season?

Julie: Fall! I’m a spooky girl through and through.

Sierra: Summer.  Big leafy trees, thunderstorms…no school pick-up lines.

16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

Julie: I'm pretty easy to please and just like a fancy dinner! However, mine and my husband's birthdays are eight days apart, so sometimes if we're feeling ambitious, we'll plan a trip.

Sierra: I usually forget that my birthday is happening, so I celebrate by being surprised that people want to take me out to dinner.

17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?

Julie: I am a huge fan of Vicious Lost Boys Series. And one of my favorite underrated TV shows of all time is My Mad Fat Diary. I’m also a huge Swiftie and can’t get enough of the New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelcie. Can I just recommend the Era’s Tour in general? Ugh, so good.

Sierra: I am obsessed with Julia Whelan’s latest, Casanova LLC—it’s textured and sensual and each word of each line is so delicately and perfectly chosen, it feels like the book was etched into stone.  As for podcasts, I’m a huge fan of If Books Could Kill, which (hilariously) dissects why most self-help-y, business advice-y airport bestsellers are actually pretty silly.  (The Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Atomic Habits episodes are some of my personal faves.)

18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?

Julie: Tex-Mex will forever have my heart. Followed by Italian and New York style pizza.

Sierra: I have a humiliatingly millennial answer, but I really like farm-to-table food, like in Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons.  I think it’s my inner hobbit.  The children yearn for the Shire!

19--What do you do when you have free time?

Julie: Lately, I’ve been coloring a lot. My new obsession is junk journaling and I did become obsessed with making friendship bracelets courtesy of Taylor Swift. I’ve also been gobbling up Dramione fan fiction like nobody’s business. (Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love should be required reading.)

Sierra: Nap! Dread my inbox! Nap while avoiding my inbox! Actually, my new hobby is book-binding, so right now I’m spending a lot of time with YouTube videos and glue.

20--What can readers expect from you next?

Julie: I’m launching a chapter book series in 2025 called Catty Corner and am releasing Let Them Stare, a young adult novel with my dear pal and one of the stars of Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness. Of course, I’ll be back to some new steamy hijinks with Sierra in the fall of 2025.

Sierra: My next solo book, Bitter Burn, will be out in 2025, and it’s the conclusion to my contemporary Tristan and Isolde retelling.  And Julie and I will be back with more raunch-com-y goodness next fall, with a brand-new series!

A JINGLE BELL MINGLE by Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone

Christmas Notch #3

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone who gave us A Merry Little Meet Cute comes a new holiday rom-com—’tis the season for second chances!

What happens when there’s no room at the inn and you and your potentially demonic cat become roommates with your grumpy one-night stand?

Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based.

Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace?

But after their best friends’ wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a handshake deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.

And with these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script…right?

Romance Contemporary | Romance Holiday [Avon, On Sale: September 24, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063338210 / eISBN: 9780063338234]

Final Book in the Porn Star- Christmas Movie Rom Com Series