Book Buzz: People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young
What I really enjoy about writing love stories is the little moments that feel just as important as the big love declarations. I think it’s the acts of service, the little thoughtful things that each character will do for the other. In each of my books, there’s a moment that I can narrow down to, of consideration and thoughtfulness in a physical, tangible way. The way that Bo [Out on a Limb] goes about splitting their expenses. It’s not a grand declaration of love, but it’s respect, and it’s an understanding and communication, and it’s showing somebody who is really capable of having awkward conversations when wanting to take care of somebody. And wanting to look after someone with respect in mind. Or like Caleb in Out of the Woods, when Sarah is upset because they’re going camping and they don’t have any electricity. She doesn’t bring her Kindle, but he brings it, and he buys her a solar charger. It’s this little way of like letting someone know that they’re seen and their past influences matter
― Hannah Bonham-Young, Interview, Didees Magazine
What booksellers are saying about People Watching
- I have fallen in love with Hannah’s storytelling! I literally could not put it down and stayed up all night reading it. It’s sweet, emotional, steamy, and wholesome all at the same time. Also, a hot man that is an artist with a mustache and tattoos…yes please??
― Juliana Reyes, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina | BUY
- A sweet and sexy romance from Hannah Bonam-Young! I thoroughly enjoyed the romance between Prue and Milo; I’m a sucker for a sex lessons deal. The way that Bonam-Young handled Prue’s mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and care was very well done. I know this will be an easy handsell in store this fall.
― Claire McWhorter, River & Hill Books in Rome, Georgia | BUY
- With every new book Hannah Bonam-Young releases, she hits new highs. It’s no question People Watching is one of my most anticipated 2025 releases and it delivers in a huge way. With found family, beautiful prose, and emotions for days- People Watching is sure to be one of your favorite reads too!
― Preet Singh, Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Georgia | BUY
About Hannah Bonham-Young
Hannah Bonham-Young is the author of Next of Kin, Next to You, and Out on a Limb. Hannah writes romances featuring a cast of diverse, disabled, marginalized, and LGBTQIA+ folks wherein swoon-worthy storylines blend with the beautiful, messy, and challenging realities of life. When not reading or writing romance, you can find her having living room dance parties with her kids or planning any occasion that warrants a cheeseboard. Originally from Ontario, Canada, she lives with her childhood friend turned husband, Ben, two kids, and a bulldog near Niagara Falls on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples.
Book Buzz: People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young Read More »
They were such extraordinarily different people in the way they related to the world and other people. He was this awkward and lonely man before he met her, living quite a dislocated life, and she was this livewire and such a compelling, energetic, positive presence. [There’s] something about how a marriage like that works, then putting that marriage in this extreme scenario, to the ultimate test.
I wanted to write a controlled, intense, strange, sensual, truthful novel set firmly in a genre I’m increasingly thinking of as wonder. You can watch a romcom where someone is covered with bees and they’re terrified, and you’re laughing, so their experience is not the same as your experience. Likewise, you can be watching a horror film, and they think they’re having a normal Monday, and you know better. That’s where the horror happens.
A Gardin Wedding allows readers to take an emotional journey with Martha—one where she drops her tough exterior and heals the hurt inside. While this heartwarming family and friendship drama with romantic elements is the second book in my Gardins of Edin series, it can also stand alone. I welcome readers who are familiar with the Gardin family because they enjoyed The Gardins of Edin as well as those who haven’t read it yet.
The father in the story “All the Other Demons” is an exaggerated version of my own dad, a weird, verbose man who loved to spellbind his children with strange tales and arcane lore, patchwork narratives drawn from whatever sources he needed to hold our imaginations captive. As I grew older and started performing my own version of the charismatic raconteur, my father said I suffered from a “hyperbolic condition,” a genetically inherited illness enhanced by a steady diet of tall tales. By the time I started writing poetry in high school, I was possessed with the power of language, and my main goal was to enchant readers with streams of words—never mind the subject matter.
I’ve always thought that the legend of the fox is so fascinating. In Chinese literature and also Japanese and Korean legends, the fox is a shapeshifter, as you mentioned, who can turn itself into a very attractive person. And folklore is full of these stories – many of them odd figments of stories – of foxes who interact with people, often tricking them, sometimes killing them or making off with their property.
