Merry Christmas you Filthy Animal by Meghan Quinn

Samantha Brentmoor and Teddy Hamilton perform this audiobook in duet narration, with JF Harding, Vanessa Edwin, Robert Hatchet, and Shane East in supporting roles.

How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn was a 2024 favorite. Before reading, I didn’t realize that Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal was set in the same world. I begged for Max’s story last year and Meghan delivered, but I kind of wish I had done a quick reread first—it took a bit for my memory to kick in. But don’t worry, they each stand alone just fine.

I was nervous at the beginning. Atlas “Max” Maxheimer seemed so ridiculously immature that I thought it was a flashback to his childhood, especially because of how his family blew off his concerns. But once I got into the story, that’s exactly what I loved about him.

Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal made me crack up—I had tears in my eyes from laughing, and only one other author ever makes me laugh that hard. Max and Betty were so ridiculously awkward together, you couldn’t help but laugh at every interaction.

“I don’t know how to react to that, and when I don’t know how to react, my awkward instincts kick in, meaning . . . I’m about to ramble nonsense. I know it’s coming. I know it’s my only way to fight off the bumbling feeling pulsing through me. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it. My cheeks flame. I look away and hear myself say, ‘Oh, uh, thank you. They’re, uh, they’re my dad’s eyes.’ They’re my dad’s eyes? Who says that?”

Max’s family runs a Christmas tree farm in the small town of Kringle. When his parents take off on a trip through Europe, they finally leave Max in charge for the first time. So when he overhears talk about developing the vacant land next door, he panics—but since Max tends to overreact, no one in his family takes him seriously. Then a cottage mysteriously appears overnight, and when he goes to investigate, a gorgeous woman hurls a two-liter soda bottle at his head… landing him straight in jail.

Betty is starting over on her uncle’s land just outside of Kringle. “Uncle” Dwight wants to open a Christmas tree farm that’s better than Max’s family farm—the one people see first when they drive into town. He gives Betty the incredible opportunity to run the whole project from start to finish, but she doesn’t realize he’s doing it to crush his childhood nemesis, Max.

Storee, Max’s best friend Cole’s wife (and the heroine from the first book), helps Max hatch a plan to get Betty to fall for him so she won’t destroy his family’s farm—but Max doesn’t expect to be the one falling.

“But you can’t be your outlandish self, okay? Reel that shit in.”
“I’m not outlandish.”
She levels with me, her brow picking up. “Minutes ago, you told me your boner levitated you off your mattress.”

Betty and Max could not be more perfect for each other. They’re both such awkward, bumbling, rambling goofballs that I’m giggling again just writing this review.

“And then I got to know you, I saw myself in you, I saw how well we meshed, how I felt comfortable around you, and I immediately knew, this is my person.”

The Narration:

LISTEN to Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal (and How My Neighbor Stole Christmas). Even if you don’t usually do audiobooks, get both the ebook and audiobook and do an immersive read, speeding up the audio to match your pace. The narration in this full-cast recording was phenomenal—I can’t imagine experiencing it any other way.

Likes:

Meghan’s ridiculous sense of humor never fails me.
I laughed out loud a stupid amount.
They were just so awkward and bumbling.
Despite the silly humor, there was still some deeper emotion.
The narrator breaking the fourth wall and interacting with the characters—and we find out who he is!
All of the little Home Alone Easter eggs.
The scene where she meets his parents will live rent-free in my head forever.
Popcorn garland and chocolate-covered cherries have joined candy canes in the “things I’ll never look at the same” group.
Small-town charm and everyone looking out for one another.

Dislikes:

It took a bit to get into. Max seemed a little too over-the-top immature at first (I thought it was a flashback to childhood), but then I loved it.
It wasn’t quite as Christmassy as the first.

The Down & Dirty:

Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal perfectly illustrates why I love Meghan Quinn so much. Her silly, immature humor just works for me. Her characters are lovable and ridiculous, and Betty and Max together were just so freaking perfect. They’re two of the most awkward characters I’ve ever read, and I’ve read books where one is adorably awkward—but both? I laughed so hard.

“Because you’re just . . . you’re not what I expected.”
“And now that you are, what are you finding?”
“That you’re sweet. That you’re goofy. That you and I seem like the same rambling person.”