Bee and Nolan from two very different worlds. Adult entertainment and boybands.

Both meet on a film set to film a tame, pg Christmas movie as the original leading leader had to pull out. but everything isn't tame behind closed doors (lol)

It's a cute steamy Christmas read...

I would have loved to find out more about how their relationship works
I feel like so much was out to get them in the end it took away from them with all the drama.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this copy🥰✨

I can totally see why this has so much hype over on Instagram at the moment! This was such a lovely, festive, spicy read. It followed Bee, a plus-sized pornstar, and Nolan, an ex-boy band member, navigate filming a Christmas movie together.

I honestly could not put this down, I was hooked. I really enjoyed watching their relationship unfold and blossom, and had a giggle along the way. This featured the PERFECT amount of spice. Love love love!!!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I do post reviews on Instagram at @blondesbooknook if you're interested!

A great Christmassy read, steamy, funny and sweet all at the same time. I love Bee & Nolan but the rest of the characters are excellent too.
A hopechannel Christmas film faces a recast at short notice, the main female lead is hiding a secret she is also a porn star, her costar knows this, as he is her biggest fan.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
I honestly loved it

I definitely requested this one because it was one I kept seeing and the fact that Julie Murphy is one of the author's also encouraged me.

Don't let the cute cover fool you with this one! Whilst it was a fun and Christmassy romance it was also incredibly steamy! I loved the plus size rep and also the fact that Bee is an adult film star!

This was a fun read and I ended up giving it 3.5 stars. I did feel like it dragged in places but overall it was a fun Christmassy romance!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the themes in this one, the characters were great and there were lots of one liners that made me laugh out loud. I really liked the plus size rep and the positive way in which the porn industry was portrayed but I just didn’t really feel the chemistry between the characters

I really enjoyed this book! I actually quite liked the characters and the plot, but it’s definitely just a one-time read for me

I had some very high hopes for this book. I'm a fan of the Dumplin' series by Julie Murphy, but had never read anything by Sierra Simone.

This book is incredibly spicy, it felt practically like all sex all the time. There's a lot of really great scenes (the wedding dress one, for one) but I did miss some emotional connection between Nolan and Bee. It really would have added to this book for me.

While I'm very glad to have seen a character with bipolar disorder in this book, I'm not entirely delighted by the representation. It very much made them seem they would fall apart completely with no one there for them, and for the majority of people I know with bipolar disorder can live a perfectly normal life.

There were definitely some positives with this book. I loved the plus-sized main character Bee and how Nolan is very supportive/adoring of her body. I loved the openness that the porn industry and sex workers were portrayed as, how inclusive they were as a 'family' and how much this novel is inclusive - so much love for LGBTQIA+ characters which is truly great. However, I feel the title is misleading - not a 'meet cute' - and the sex scenes are a little too graphic for a cosy Christmas read for me, and I would imagine a few others out there too!

**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **

Sadly, I had to put this book down. The cover and title are a little misleading, there’s no meet cute. I found it very lacklustre, and I was ultimately bored. Its driving force is the spice (questionable choice of descriptions throughout) with little story and 2D characters. I’ll try to continue it in the future but it didn’t work for me.

Following a case of mistaken headshots, Bee Hobbes is delighted and shocked when she is offered the lead role in a new Christmas movie with the squeaky clean Hope Channel, co-starring beside her teenage crush, ex-boyband member Nolan Shaw who is trying to reinvent his bad boy image. Bee isn't only amazed at her leading role due to her plus size but also her other secret career as a porn star aka Bianca Von Honey. But it turns out that Bee's secret becomes hard to keep when Nolan knows exactly who she is, and loves her because of it.

There was a lot to like and appreciate with this book - Bee's was a fantastic plus size character whose size was only such a small part of the story. She was beautiful, smart and kind as well as sexy and fun and I enjoyed her chemistry with Nolan for the most part, and how her size also added to his overall desire for her as well. I liked that the story did touch on parts and what life would be like for a plus size main role character/leading actress as well as a plus size porn star and what that would entail from hate mail to fetishization.

I also appreciate this book highlighting the sex worker industry and that honestly every single person has a right to engage in safe sex work if they want to as well as carve out a 'cleaner' career for themselves. This book has a variety of characters who are all engaged in sex work in some way from producers to make up and wardrobe, and I enjoyed how they were all a little family to one another.

However, one of the things I didn't like about this book was some of the caricature-ish way some of these sex workers ended up being portrayed as. Characters like Bee's friend and roommate Sunny, who had to have every second sentence come out of her mouth be something sexual, and this happened with many other characters as well and this annoyed be a little bit as I feel it's falling into a stereotype. Not everyone who engages in sex work has to talk about sex all the time.

While I appreciate lots of things in this book, and for the most part the sex/smut scenes were quite good if a little cringe at time (though I do think the 'sex in a church' scene was a bit much and I'm not religious at all), I just never loved this one as much as I wanted to.

Bee Hobbes has a booming business as Bianca Von Honey, an adult entertainer, starring in porn and a very lucrative ClosedDoor account (aka fictional OnlyFans). She's gets a call from her producer asking could she be a last minute replacement on Duke the Halls, a Christmas movie for the ultra squeaky clean Hope Channel (aka fictional Hallmark). The only stipulation is that she keeps her alternative persona secret and remains celibate while shooting the film. Which would have been a lot easier if Nolan Shaw, an ex-boyband member that Bee has had a crush on for years, wasn't her co-star. And the biggest Bianca Von Honey fan! They're immediately attracted to each other, can they keep things between them a secret, when there's so much at stake and celebrity gossip journalists circling them, looking for scandal?

Overall I did enjoy the book but there were some elements I didn't click with fully. The book is a dual point of view, alternating between Bee and Nolan. I think I would have preferred it if it was just from Bee's perspective, it felt like a lot going between the two of them when they both had so much at stake (Bee keeping her identity a secret, Nolan trying to make a big come back). Some tighter editing would have made it more enjoyable for me and cut out some repetition. Some of the wording in the raunchy scenes was a bit cringe (I hate when genitals are referred to as 'sex') but they were pretty steamy so if you're more of a fade to black or closed doors, then this isn't for you! Also the title doesn't go with the book, there is no meet cute

What I did like is the representation. Bee is a great main character, a very successful plus sized. There were a few times where a big miscommunication moment would happen or Nolan would be judgemental, but there wasn't. Nolan and Bee are both bisexual as well, and there are other LGBTQ characters in the book (include Bee's two mothers). The setting is fun, a Christmas themed town, which includes The North Pole strip club which cracked me up! I liked some of the side characters too, especially the producer Teddy Ray Fletcher (aka Uncle Ray-Ray, the porn film mogul trying to diversify his portfolio by doing these wholesome holiday films), he seemed like an interesting character to say the least

A holiday romance book that has characters that may not be the traditional wholesome characters usually found in these stories/films, but also leans in heavily into the tropes and formula of those kind of books. If you want a Christmassy story with a bit of spice and diverse characters, then this could be for you!

Do not let this cutesy Christmas cover fool you! This was definitely a Christmas story with a twist. With a host of inclusive characters, this book had a really interesting and unique plot, but I just didn't connect to it as much as I would like.

💖🎄 A Merry Little Meet Cute🎄💖

4⭐️ A fun and frisky festive frolick- pretty much everything you want from a Holiday RomCom!💖🎄

Thank you to @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for an eARC in return for an honest review📚

From the moment I saw the bubble gum pink cover and read the synopsis of Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone’s new Holiday Rom-Com I KNEW I had to read it.

This book is simultaneously Naughty & Nice🎄I would honestly never have thought to pair a pornstar and a bad boy ex boy band hearthrob with a squeakyclean, wholesome hallmark-esque christmas movie but IT FREAKING WORKS! The fact that they have to be on their best behaviour, her to hide her NSFW career and him to repair his bad boy reputation but he was her teenage crush and she’s his favourite NSFW content creator but she doesn’t know he knows AND there’s some serious sexual attraction? Genius!

This was an easy and quick read that was well written with delicious spice, a cute romance, body inclusivity and a pair of chaotic bisexual MCs!

You can expect:
💖Small Town Setting
💖Forbidden Romance
💖Cheesy Christmas Movie
💖Hidden Identities
💖’I have a crush on you without knowing you but I don’t want you to know that I’m a fan’ from BOTH MCs
💖Forced Proximity
💖Spice (Spice Baby🥵)
💖Laugh out loud ridiculousness, hijinks and a whole lot of fun
💖INAPPROPRIATE use of festive body lotion ( Like seriously Nolan had a PROBLEM! 🤣)

Basically, if you like a bit of spice and want a fun christmas read then I would definitely recommend you give this a go- it has taken the top spot for my favourite festive read👑

“I want more than memories with you, Bee. I want moments upon moments.”

⭐️⭐️/5

I had been so, so excited for this book for months and wanted this to be my hyped up Christmas read, as I know so many people loved it… but it just didn’t work for me personally, which i’m really sad about 🙁

This book had all of the ingredients to make the perfect Christmas rom-com, but the problem that I had was that the two main characters were so, so boring to me. Bee is an adult movie star and Nolan is the “bad boy” from a band who has a bad reputation, but they just felt… stale and unremarkable? I also felt that they didn’t really have much chemistry, so by the time they got together, I didn’t really care 😕

Saying that, I really, really enjoyed how sex positive this book was. The spice was great and there was no embarrassment when it came to speaking about Bee’s job in the porn industry, and that’s how it should be. I really loved that aspect. Also, I don’t think I have ever read a male/female romcom where both of the leads are bi, which was so nice to read.

Read this if you enjoy:
💙 Holiday romances
💙 Books taking place on a film set
💙 Forbidden romance
💙 LGBTQIA+ rep
💙 Secret romances
💙 Plus sized main characters
💙 Spice

(Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the EARC of this book! I recently received the physical copy from my mum too because the cover is so pretty!)

💙

Love love love this book and I have already recommended it to two friends. The perfect romantic Christmas romance with some added spice!

Hmmm I'm a bit conflicted by this book - I'm all for evolution and supportive when it comes to an author writing different types of novels, but I was expecting a bit more from Sierra Simone?

The plot itself was very sweet and the steam was definitely well executed, however a bit predictable.

I was so excited for this book!! the plus size representation is everything. I started this in december so I could have a cute christmas read and it did not disappoint! This was a very cute read and I really enjoyed the main characters.

a plus-size main character (yes!) and that was about it.

Now, surprisingly, considering my love of deep, dark and creepy thrillers, I'm also a sucker for a good old cutesy romance and Christmas romances are just *chefs kiss* so I couldn't wait to get reading.

I fell in love with the characters. Bad boy ex-boyband member Nolan and plus-size porn and ClosedDoors (think OnlyFans) star Bee. Both are worried about image and reputation, with Nolan trying to shake off his bad boy image to help his family and Bee concerned her adult entertainment secret will be found out by the Hope Channel, and their wholesome Hallmark-esque movies. The other characters were brilliant too, with LGBTQIA+ and Jewish rep throughout. You couldn't help but love each and every one of them and they each added to the story in their own way.

The chemistry and sexual tension between Nolan and Bee was crazy, especially with them not knowing the effect they had on each other. Bee crushed on Nolan from his boyband INK days, and Nolan was a fan of Bee on ClosedDoors. So dreams were being made! The forbidden romance was also just the cherry on top.

If you love smut, romance and holiday romance then definitely give this one a go!

Honestly, I struggled with this one. I think the actual story itself doesn't match particularly well with the title and cover - I expected something a bit more cutesy (a meet cute story, though that is a bit on the nose) and that isn't really what you get here.

After finding out what the premise of this book was, I was a bit skeptical about it, and it definitely had the potential to go very downhill, but I think Murphy and Simone found the perfect level of ridiculousness without being unrealistic. As a lover of crappy Christmas romance movies I was very excited to see that this was the setting for the novel, and I felt fully immersed in the world of Christmas Notch and the eclectic band of characters working on the film. I loved the plus-size inclusivity in this, and how it didn't feel tokenistic in the slightest, but I've read some of Murphy's works before so knew to only expect the best in that department! I loved reading about Nolan and Bee falling for each other, especially as I find it so hard to believe that costars don't fal for each other all the time when they have to pretend to be together. The ending was quite predictable but I honestly didn't mind because I just had so much fun reading it.