by Matthew Norman
DETAILS:
Publisher: Dell
Publication Date: October 14, 2025
Format: Paperback
Length: 306 pg.
Read Date: November 28-29, 2025
All things considered, I’m doing okay. I get that that sounds like something someone says when they’re not doing okay. I also get that “all things considered” is putting in some real work there because I’m still wearing the black dress I wore to my husband’s funeral this morning. But seriously. For real. I’m doing okay.
It started to snow right at the end of the ceremony. It’s been weirdly warm in Baltimore since Christmas, so the flakes melted the second they hit the ground, putting a reflective sheen on everything, including the coffin.
I couldn’t help thinking that my husband would’ve been psyched about the way the wood grain glistened in the late-morning light. Tim chose a coffin with a chocolatey-brown finish because it perfectly matched the desk in his office at school, and because—his words here—“It just looks classy, Gracey.”
He said this a month ago. We were having one of his “When I’m Gone” strategy sessions in the TV room. “It’s morbid, I know,” he said, showing me the image on his iPad. “But a coffin’s gotta look like something, right? Mine might as well look classy.”
My husband. My former husband? My dead husband? Here’s something I’ve noticed: There’s no good way to describe him now. The first one leaves out some pretty vital information, the second is misleading, and the third is just too jarring.
What’s Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon About?
Two well-intentioned and completely unsubtle mothers take on an age-old task: they interfere in the love lives of their children. In this particular case, the children are thirtysomethings whose spouses died recently. The mothers have decided it’s time for them to start to move on and set-up an awkward and thinly-disguised meeting between the two. They quickly see through what’s going on, express mutual frustration at their own parent, but recognize the intention—and their common bond.
Grace decides they need to become friends, however. Henry agrees to this. It’s their first Holiday Seasons as a widow/widower, and they need all the help they can get. Soon, Henry is over at Grace’s to watch The Family Stone (a holiday tradition for Henry and Brynn) with her and one of her kids (the other has gone to sleep at a reasonable time). And from there bonds are formed, movies are watched and discussed, mice are trapped (humanely), and wounds begin to heal. Also, there’s a dog named Harry Styles, and your curiosity has to be piqued by that, right?
Grief
Tim handled most of the Christmas shopping, and he was great at knocking things out early. I, of course, have mostly put it off until now, so here we are. Along with lump sums of money, life insurance policies should include a personal assistant for errand running so the surviving spouse can spend their time grieving and dabbling in alcoholism.
I’m sure I’m missing some, but the only other Rom Com I can think of that focuses this much on spousal grief is Sleepless in Seattle.* And Norman gets this element so, so well (I think Nora Ephron did, too, so you know where I’m coming from). Grace and Henry share some commonalities in their grief—as everyone does—but they aren’t identical in it. So we see a spectrum (not exhaustive) of manifestations and expressions of grief. Neither of them handles it perfectly (assuming that’s possible), but they deal with it in believable ways—especially when they start helping each other. A friend who is going through a similar horrific circumstance is a friend indeed.
There’s some comedy to be mined from this—never comedy at the expense of the characters, or making light of grief—just a laugh at human foibles. But more than that, we see them at their worst—depressed, filled with guilt and anger, and so on. And you cannot help but fall in love with them as characters because of that.
* I am, of course, ignoring How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper. Unforgivable, as it’s my favorite of his work.
The Movies
“We liked to start with The Family Stone,” I say. “Then we always finished with Love Actually.”
“That’s sweet,” says Grace. “Can I ask, though, why you and Brynn bookended your holidays with two complete pieces of shit?”
It’s like I’ve been slapped. “Excuse me? Are you kidding?”
“I’m not,” she says. “They’re objectively bad movies, Henry. I sit, then immediately stand. “It would’ve been helpful the other day if you’d mentioned that you’re insane.”
So the back of the book makes it sound like that this book is filled with Grace and Henry watching movie after movie after movie with each other. But that’s not quite accurate. They only get a couple of movies in together—and watch bits of other ones on their own. Which is actually better than what I expected. The scenes where they are watching a movie together are great, but we need more than them.
Norman knows this and gives us that more.
But this is a celebration of holiday movies—each section of the book is framed by one (thankfully, identified by title). Those sections will include references to, echoes of, quotations of, or something else that will make the reader think of the movie. This was a great way to frame this novel—both fun and builds in a story engine at once.
Oh, and fair warning, Die Hard is considered by most of the characters in the novel to count as one.
Baltimore
“How do you like Baltimore so far, by the way?” I ask. “T just realized I haven’t asked you that yet. Seems unwelcoming of me.”
“I like it,” she says. “Everyone here always seems like they’ve been drinking.”
I smile because that’s maybe the most astute observation I’ve heard about this place.
Okay, I said something similar when talking about Norman’s Charm City Rocks, but he really makes Baltimore seem like a great city to live in and one that I’d really like to visit. Given that the majority of what I know about Baltimore comes from David Simon (Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire) and my preternatural dislike of flying—that’s saying something.
This book doesn’t have quite the same level of Baltimore-love, but it’s there. And we even get to revisit some locales described in Charm City Rocks.
So, what did I think about Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon?
Why is it that the holidays always seem to arrive out of nowhere? One day you notice a leaf turning orange—then, ten minutes later, guys in commercials are buying their wives Lexuses with big red bows on them, and you think, Wait, what?
It’s like that every year, I guess. This year, though, the passage of time has been particularly confusing, because there were a few months early on that I barely remember. I have no recollection of the Super Bowl, for example, or who hosted the Oscars, or what springing forward was like.
Today, somehow, is the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
Within 6 paragraphs, I was thinking about swooning for the book. By the end of the first chapter, I’m pretty sure I had.
Is this predictable? Yup, just like the movies it celebrates. Is it warm? Yup, just like the movies it celebrates. Will it just make you happy (possibly more than it deserves?) Yup, just like the movies it celebrates.
This is as comfy and cozy as wearing a pair of Costco sweatpants, sipping cocoa (or a rosé), while sprawled on your couch watching TV with someone you’re close to (preferably multiple someones). I couldn’t stop grinning throughout (at least it felt like I was, whether or not that was literal).
I’m unable to put stars to this—it’s probably a pretty good novel if you look at it objectively, maybe a bit clichéd, honestly. But it hit me just right and I don’t care about objectivity or clichés—I just loved the experience. It’s probably the most feel-good of the feel-good novels I’ve read this year. I heartily recommend it. Or maybe I should say that I 💕 💕 ❄️ recommend it🎄💕 💕.
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Misty Gardner has had a varied career,most recently as a historian and previously as a lawyer, but from an early age has had a passionate interest in music, from the Merseybeat sound down to the present day. Misty’s current ‘obsession’ is with the country/folk/rock sounds that came out of California in the 1970s and which will feature in their latest novel, provisionally-titled ‘Love Hurts’, due out in late 2025. Misty has previously published a four-part saga [The Misty Blue quartet] featuring broadly the same story told from four differing perspectives, and also ‘Walk Right Back’ – all set in the world of rock music. As well as playing guitar in various bands in the 1980s, Misty has also appeared on stage in numerous roles over a long period. Other than music, their main interests are 17th century history, dogs and horses.
