The Christmas season is upon us, which means there is a wealth of new books to curl up with as the nights get colder. In this review, we'll look at: The Night Before Christmas at Dunder Mifflin, by Brian Baumgartner & Ben Silverman, and illustrated by Mael Gourmelen; Christmas with the Queen, by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb; I'll Be Gone for Christmas, by Georgia K. Boone; and Puppy Love at Mistletoe Junction, by Shannon Richard.
The Night Before Christmas at Dunder Mifflin
By Brian Baumgartner & Ben Silverman, and illustrated by Mael Gourmelen
Mariner Books; hardcover, 48 pages; hardcover, $19.99; eBook, $12.99; Digital Audio, $2.99
Brian Baumgartner played Kevin Malone on the hit NBC sitcom The Office, and he hosts the podcasts An Oral History of "The Office" and "The Office" Deep Dive with Brian Baumgartner. He has appeared in the films including License to Wed, Four Christmases, and The Other Black Girl. He has also voices "Walter the Bear" in Glen Keane Production's Trash Truck for Netflix.
Ben Silverman is the chairman of Propagate Content who is the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning producer of The Office, as well as Ugly Betty, Biggest Loser, Jane the Virgin, and The Tudors. He is currently executive producing a new iteration of The Office for NBC's Peacock, set in a similar universe to Dunder Mifflin, but at a Midwestern daily newspaper.
Baumgartner and Silverman's first book was Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office, and they have a produced a delightful new book, really a holiday storybook, The Night Before Christmas at Dunder Mifflin.
This entertaining, hilarious twist on Clement Moore's A Visit from Saint Nicholas, set at the Scranton, Pennsylvania, paper company is chock-full of clever references to the TV series, starting with Santa's sled turning into Michael's Chrysler convertible and sugarplums becoming Kevin's chili.
There's Michael Scott in a Santa suit as he spreads Christmas cheer, mixed with "that's what she said" jokes - along with his right-hand, dutiful elf who loves beets - delivering absurd gifts to the staff, tacky decorations for the office, and absolutely nothing good for Toby.
If you are a fan of the series and it's classic holiday episodes involving the Yankee Swap, Phyllis's Moroccan Christmas, and Meredith's hair on fire, this visit from St. Michaelas is like adding a new episode to that tradition.
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Christmas with the Queen
By Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
William Morrow Paperbacks; paperback, 384 pages; $18.99; available today, Tuesday, November 19th
Hazel Gaynor is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who is known for her deeply moving historical novels which delve into the defining moments of the 20th century. She received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year Award, and her latest novel, The Last Lifeboat, was a Times of London historical novel of the month, shortlisted for the 2023 Irish Book Awards and a recipient of the 2024 Audie Award for Best Fiction Narrator.
Heather Webb is the USA Today-bestselling author of ten historical novels, including the recently-released The Next Ship Home, Queens of London, and Strangers in the Night. The award-winner, who lives in Connecticut, has seen her books translated into eighteen languages.
Christmas with the Queen is set in December 1952, when a young Queen Elizabeth II is looking to find her feet as the new monarch and must also find the right words to continue her late father's tradition of delivering a Christmas Day radio broadcast. Traditions must evolve for the moment, and the Queen is facing a postwar Britain yearning for change.
Preparations start for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk when old friends Jack Devereux and Olive Carter are unexpectedly reunited for the occasion.
Jack is a chef who's been recently widowed, and he reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. While Jack has given up his dreams of owning his own restaurant, his talents are soon noticed and, while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps him reignite a spark in his passion for cooking.
Olive is a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC who leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the Queen does not go as planned, which leaves her to wonder if she will ever be taken seriously.
Jack and Olive's paths continue to cross over the next five Christmases, and they grow closer than ever. However, Olive carried a secret that threatens to destroy everything. The story goes right up to when the Queen delivers her first televised speech in December 1957.
I'll Be Gone for Christmas
By Georgia K. Boone
Avon; paperback, 288 pages; $18.99
Georgia K. Boone is a writer, poet, and the daughter of storytellers. There also are songs she has written that she might share one day. In a Brooklyn community center, she once read James Baldwin's quote, "You can't tell the children there's no hope," and those are words she carries with her to the desert and beyond.
I'll Be Gone for Christmas is the first title by Boone, and the perfect way to begin her writing career. It tackles some of the messiest aspects of familial relationships from disappointing your parents to sibling rivalry in a lighthearted and poignant way, while showing the impact of the families we choose can be.
In an ode to the now-classic movie The Holiday, with an appeal to a wider and more diverse audience, this is a heartwarming Christmas house-swap rom-com in which finding yourself and finding love go hand in hand.
Bee Tyler needs a break from the bustling San Francisco tech community in which nobody ever seems to stand still, especially her sister and business partner, Beth. Then, her best friend suggests a getaway on the popular house-swap app, Vacate, Bee decides a countryside retreat is just what she needs.
Clover Mills has had a brutal year, from losing her mother to making the complicated decision to leave her fiance. That makes the choice of sticking around the idyllic Christmas-obsessed town of Salem, Ohio, not feel so right. When she hears about Vacate, she jumps at the chance to spend the holidays in the unfamiliar surroundings of San Francisco.
Soon enough, Bee is living in Clover's cozy Salem cottage, and Clover is in Bee's sleek San Francisco apartment. While Clover can't seem to stop running into Bee's gorgeous sister, Beth, and Bee finds herself spending more and more time with Clover's charming ex-fiance, Knox, the two women come to the realization that this Christmas they might discover what they were looking for and more.
Puppy Love at Mistletoe Junction
By Shannon Richard
Avon; paperback, 350 pages; $18.99
Shannon Richard, the author of Dog Days Forever, has written this heartfelt holiday contemporary romance, in which a young woman returns to her hometown and ends up fostering a pregnant dog with, of all possible people, the man she used to love.
Lucy Buchanan and Theo Taylor have never gotten along, not when they were children, not when they were teenagers, and definitely not when they became adults. The last part might be more on Lucy's part, as it was the summer after she graduated college when their antagonism turned into something, well, hot.
At least that was until Lucy left town quickly, as she headed for Los Angeles. Now, she has returned home after seven years following a bad breakup, and she also became disillusioned with her new home.
Theo is unaware and doesn't care about what brought Lucy to come back, as his lingering resentment is enough to push her away at arm's length until she inevitably bolts town again.
The problem is, as they are around each other, their friction isn't going away, especially when it brings intense heat. They have no idea exactly what it is they've rekindled, but it gets even more complicated when they rescue a pregnant dog together, with each one having joint responsibility for her.
This is a story about overcoming the past, first for the dog's sake and her litter, as well as their own wounded hearts.
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