Jingle Around the Block
by Serena Kirsch
Released: November 21, 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Why this book and why now?
This book was hugely created out of spite at how disappointed I was by Hulu’s Happiest Season movie. Those characters were not having a happy season at all! I have since gobbled up many wonderful indie sapphic Christmas books that fixed that gap for me, but this is my personal contribution to the genre. We can never have too many happy Christmas sapphics.
Do your character names have special significance or meaning?
One of my MCs really likes to read, and the other prefers experiencing stories through video games. I named Charlie/Charlotte after the eponymous spider from Charlotte’s Web and Rachel after Rachel Amber, a queer character in the video game series Life is Strange. Charlie is very structured, like a spider spinning its web, and Rachel pushes Charlie to do things outside of her comfort zone, much like the character in the game. Ironically, neither of the inspiration characters has a very happy ending, but these gals do.
What TV show would your main character(s) most likely binge watch and why?
I feel like my MCs would love the queernormative world in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. A big theme in the book is the consumption of sapphic media, and this is one that’s full of bright colors and an ultimate message of hope, redemption, and forgiveness running through it. I really think they would connect with those themes.
One of your main characters is planning a romantic night. Tell us about it.
Rachel’s my more chaotic character, and Charlie is much more straitlaced, so I think Rachel would challenge Charlie’s expectations by doing something highly illegal like break into a museum so they could look at everything by flashlight. What’s more romantic than a huge rush of adrenaline?
What song does your character put on to start your book launch party?
Is it too obvious to say “Jingle Bell Rock”? 🙂 The title is inspired by a line from that song, which I always thought was “jingle around the block” instead of “jingle around the clock” when I was younger. It plays during the end scene of the newer Cheaper by the Dozen movie when the family has found some harmony after all of the humorous chaos, which is very suitable for the tone of this book.
