Lucy Vine and Laura Wood join forces for festive romcoms at Wildfire
Wildfire has bought two festive romcoms by bestselling authors Lucy Vine and Laura Wood, writing together for the first time. Editorial director Rachel Hart won a three-way auction for UK and Commonwealth rights to Christmas Movie Magic and Christmas Party Magic, from Diana Beaumont at DHH and Louise Lamont at LBA. The first novel will be out in paperback original, ebook and audiobook in autumn 2027.
Christmas Movie Magic follows a sharp London lawyer and a clumsy yet endearing Christmas movie heroine who accidentally swap lives and must navigate each other’s worlds while trying to swap back, inevitably falling for the wrong people along the way. When big city lawyer Sloane finds herself trapped inside her favourite festive film, The Twelve Dukes of Christmas, she must seek true love’s kiss in order to escape – if only that very handsome background character wouldn’t keep distracting her from her quest. Meanwhile, Christmas-movie heroine Cecilia LaBeau wakes up in Sloane’s London, where supermarket meal deals, Tube etiquette and dating apps prove rather less magical than expected – but her grumpy-yet-hot new flatmate may hold the key to everything.
Christmas Party Magic follows a Groundhog Day scenario at the world’s worst office Christmas party, in what the publisher describes as ‘the most wonderful timeloop of the year’. Vine said: "When one of your favourite authors in the world asks if you want to write a Christmas book together, I highly recommend you say yes. Because then maybe one of your favourite editors in the world might just come along and publish it. Working on Christmas Movie Magic with my co-author, Laura Wood and our editor, Rachel Hart at Wildfire has been one of the most joyful experiences of my life; like some kind of year-round Christmas miracle. I can’t wait to see it in people’s stockings next year, bringing readers some much needed festive magic."
Wood said: "I've never had more fun working on a book than I have with this one. Writing a novel with Lucy has been a dream come true – a giddy game of trying to make each other laugh the hardest and sharing a million gleeful voice notes. We're both delighted that Christmas Movie Magic has found a home at Wildfire and with Rachel who we knew instantly was the perfect editor for us. It has been a total joy getting caught up in Sloane and Ceci's magical mayhem and I can't wait for readers to experience it too."
Hart said: "Lucy and Laura are a dream pairing: together they have created a gloriously funny, big-hearted and wildly original romcom that delivers all the magic readers want from a Christmas film, while giving the genre a brilliantly fresh twist.
With the charm of Enchanted, the life-swap chaos of Freaky Friday and the cosy festive romance of The Holiday, Christmas Movie Magic is a funny, warm and self-aware love letter to the romcoms of the 90s and 2000s. I can’t wait to publish it next year."
Lucy Vine is the best-selling author of eight romcoms, including Hot Mess, Book Boyfriend and Seven Exes. Her books have sold in twenty territories, been optioned for TV, and been longlisted for the Comedy Women In Print Awards.
Laura Wood is the award-winning author of romcoms Kiss Me Like You Mean It, Let's Make A Scene and Under Your Spell, which has sold into eighteen languages; she also wrote the YA romances A Sky Painted Gold and The Agency For Scandal series, and her books have been shortlisted for the RNAs, the YA Book Prize and the BAMB awards amongst others.