The covers of Christmas Catastrophe(s) and When Holly Met Ivy beside a photo of a snow-dusted shrub bedecked with Christmas lights.
Guest Bloggers by Name, Heather Jopling, Author

Heather Jopling: It was a no-brainer to set both of my romcoms around the Christmas season

Catherine

By Heather Jopling, Author

HEA – CanLit Romance Post by Heather Jopling

I have always loved the holidays. As a Canadian Air Force brat, my family travelled from small towns (Summerside, PEI and Greenwood, NS) to larger city centres (Winnipeg, MB – twice – Ottawa and Toronto, ON). We pretty much split our time between the Prairies and the Maritimes. My most vivid memories are of the winters spent in those disparate locales.

In Winnipeg, snow drifts kissed the roof of our garage on Conway Street. The back alleys became impromptu toboggan hills for all the kids who lived on base. Wind whipped snow across the runways of CFB Winnipeg, grounding aircraft. When you laid on your back at the seventh tee on the Assiniboine golf course, you might catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis. I skated on the duck pond at Assiniboine Park until my toes went numb.

Snowfalls in Greenwood, NS were worthy of epic poems. The North and South ‘Mountains’ became impassable for school buses; even if you didn’t live on either mountain, you got the thrill of a snow day. Those Nova Scotia winters provided the perfect snow for forts, snowball fights and sledding behind a Skidoo. Every Christmas, our living room’s stone fireplace was festooned with holiday decorations – borrowing from Dad’s English heritage as well Mum’s Danish roots.

Christmas, wherever we were in Canada, was perfection. The food, the music, the traditions – everything coalesced to create magic. We were permitted to open a single gift on Christmas Eve. But we could only open that gift after dinner, after coffee/liqueurs, after international phone calls, after dessert, after singing every song in the One Hundred Christmas Carols book (now held together by scotch tape). As a ten-year-old kid, I thought I might expire as I waited. Now, as an adult, I rejoice in each step of that process.

Heather is smiling huge holding both of her books, dressed in a green sweater and a Christmas-y skirt with red and green Christmas trees and frolicking reindeer. Her adorable large grey dog, Scratchy, is leaning in for pets, because of course!

It was a no-brainer to set both of my romcoms around the Christmas season. My first draft of Christmas Catastrophe(s) was completed in the month of November as I listened to volumes one through four of Ultra Lounge Christmas Cocktails. I set my novel in Toronto, wanting to share my love of the city with readers from Canada and beyond. I created an interracial holiday romance between two old friends, Charlotte (Charlie) Jensen and Dev Bhandari.

The cover of Christmas Catastrophes by Heather Jopling is illustrated with a pink background, fluffy snowfall. A tall thin man wearing black jeans and a blue coat is standing smiling beside a tall thin woman with curly red hair wearing a Santa hat and a festive long green coat trimmed with red and white. To the left of the man is a black and white dog, and to the right of the woman is an orange-menace cat. Tagline reads: These two old friends might just fall... for each other.

When freelance writer Charlie injures herself in a holiday DIY accident, she finds herself laid-up with only ten days to prep for her annual Holiday Tea. Her cat, Steve, is useless at babysitting, but fortunately her friend, Dev, is on call to help. Charlie and Dev show up at St. Mike’s Hospital, Cabbagetown and the Village of Yorkville Park. Their friends-to-lovers, forced proximity plot gives all the holiday feels.

For my LGBTQ+ Christmas novella, When Holly Met Ivy, I’ve re-imagined Toronto’s Dundas Street to include a Christmas shop adjacent to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Holly Macdonald, dedicated manager of the Merry Mistletoe Mercantile, has always dreamt of running her own Christmas wonderland. When Mary, the beloved shop’s owner, passes away, Holly discovers that she’s been named in Mary’s will. However, Holly’s festive plans take an unexpected turn when she learns that she must partner with Ivy Spencer, Mary’s grumpy relative, who is indifferent to holiday cheer. This novella enjoys healthy portions of the forced proximity, and Grumpy & Sunshine tropes. Toronto’s Baldwin Village and High Park make appearances, along with near-death by gingerbread, a runaway sleigh and a Santa flash mob.

The cover of When Holly Met Ivy by Heather Jopling is illustrated with a light blue background and fluffy snowfall. In the top left corner is a window decorated for Christmas. A woman with curly red hair is looking out of it, downwards to the bottom right corner where there is another window decorated for Christmas, out of which peers a woman with shoulder length straight dark hair, looking up at the red-haired woman. The tagline says A Holiday Rom Com novella.

When I need a little hit of Christmas – the easiest way to be transported is to pick up a book. My hope is that my Canadian holiday titles will be able to offer that for other readers. In addition to my books, these great Canadian authors feature Canadian locales to get you into the holiday spirit: Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley, A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas by Jackie Lau and The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox (Karma Brown & Marissa Stapley).

Though both my holiday romcoms were released earlier in epub format, I’m pleased to report that I now have paperback versions available for the 2026 holiday season. The novel and novella can be purchased through Amazon and Barnes and Noble in paperback as well as epub format. If you would like to purchase a paperback from me directly to support my independent publishing habit, please message me through my website, heatherjopling.me, and I can snail mail you a copy. If you like the vibe of my books, feel free to check out my comic blog whatthepoohdude.com or my vampire rock opera crimsonchorus.com.