Midnight in California: A Holiday Duology brings together two aching, funny, quietly magical holiday romances—one lit by Bay Area fog and unfinished conversations, one lit by Los Angeles lights and a clock that refuses to move.

In The Twelve Voicemails of Christmas, Kaya Dela Cruz and Theo Vega broke up eight years ago and never looked back... until voicemails full of everything unsaid begin arriving at 12:03 a.m., the twelve nights leading up to Christmas. Problem is, neither of them remember leaving any voicemails.

Oakland, California is humming with holiday magic, nudging two careful hearts back toward each other. Because some messages are meant to change you, not just find you.

In Happy New Year, Eve, retail worker Evelyn "Eve" Shine is working the last shift of the year when the clock sticks at 11:58 pm and the whole world outside the glass freezes—fireworks mid-burst, laughter mid-breath. She isn't quite alone in the store, however. There's Jonathan, calm and familiar, someone who's listened for years without ever being fully real. In the stretched-thin quiet before midnight, Eve finds out what happens when time finally gives her room to breathe.

Wistful, wry, and warm at the core, Midnight in California is for anyone who's ever wondered if the universe keeps better time than we do... and what it might say if it finally spoke up.

cover design by Laura Helsby of 42.fold Studio

47k words