Husband Material (London Calling #2)(129)

What’s your favorite Richard Curtis movie?

It’s got to be Notting Hill. It’s the most coherent out of the three big rom-coms, I think. I mean, Four Weddings and a Funeral is iconic but flawed (like Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell meet…three times, I think?) and Love Actually is a whole bag of complicated. I will say, I have a soft spot for About Time—except the romance in that is a bit of a mess because using your time travel powers to date a girl is never not going to be creepy. It’s almost like the rom-com bit is this bolted-on element secondary to the story that the movie actually wants to tell about a guy’s quite melancholy relationship with his dad (the dad in question being Bill Nighy which makes everything better).



What are you allowed to tell us about any more books in this world?

Well, I’m not sure what I’m allowed to tell you. But both of them involve side-characters who briefly pop up in Husband Material. The Amnesia Plot (working title) is Jonathan’s story, though he’s not the narrator: basically, I’ve always wanted to do an amnesia book because it’s such a trope, so this is my amnesia book. And, also, accidentally my holiday book? Because clearly a holiday book from someone who is at best ambivalent about holidays is going to be great. The next book is Tyler’s story, which I haven’t quite worked out the POV for yet…and in my head I’m calling it Himbo de Bergerac and that’s all I’m going to say. I don’t think they’ll actually let me call it Himbo de Bergerac, but I wish they would. (I mean, I don’t really.

Okay, maybe a little bit).

Cathy Berner, a Congressional staffer turned librarian turned bookseller, works at Blue Willow Bookshop, an independent bookstore on the west side of Houston, Texas. Her colleagues know her fondness for all things romance—when she’s talking about a novel she really loves, her voice will rise in both pitch and volume and her hands will start flapping. She’s read romance novels since she was a teenager and her love for them has not diminished. Find her on Instagram @catberner or Twitter @bibliopinions.

Blue Willow Bookshop is West Houston’s favorite bookshop, serving our wonderful community of readers with opinionated service and fantastic author events since 1996. Find them on social media @bluewillowbooks.