This is the book I didn't realise I needed in my life. And it's one that I really wish I had saved for a holiday, as the heat level in this is off the charts, and I love reading those sorts of books poolside!

This is one of those books that probably needs a heat level rating, and certainly isn't suitable for anyone who doesn't have an open mind! For the sexual chemistry between Nolan and Bee is off the charts, and these are without a doubt some of the best sex scenes I have read in a while

In fact I really could have done with a dip in a pool to cool myself off while reading this!

It's certainly not what I expected based on the adorably innocent cover, and for me that made it all tbe better.

At it's heart we have a reformed bad boy, boy band member attempting to make his acting debut in a Hallmark style Christmas movie for the squeaky clean Hope channel.

And Bee is hoping this could make her move into mainstream films, but the one thing they both have in common even before they start filming is the need to project a wholesome image for this film and that no shenanigans should be going on behind closed doors, and certainly not leaked to the press.

Unbeknownst to each other they have secretly been fantasising about each other for years, so you know sparks will fly once they actually meet.

And boy do they! There is so so much that I enjoyed about this book, inclusive of some really positive messages about women, as well as the reasoning behind why Nolan is even trying to do make this movie and restart his career.

There is a fabulous cast of characters who I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and getting to know.

Completely wonderful and an incredibly pleasurable piece of writing that kept me very happy as I was reading it. The first book I've ever read by either member of this writing duo and if they team up again, I will certainly be keen to see what else they come up with.

Actually I'd like more set within this setting, with more of these characters, or perhaps Nolan's ex band mates, who I feel could be very intriguing main characters in their own right. Please!

Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this and it was a lot steamier than I was expecting! I found it slow in some parts but overall a very fun and festive read!

“If two bisexual disasters find each other, does that negate the whole disaster part? Like how two negatives equal a positive?”
“It’s so sexy when you talk math to me,”

When a porn producer tries to branch out into sneaky-clean Christmas romance movies, what could possibly go wrong?

This book hits it straight in the there with the comedy I was laughing out from the first chapter, then it was quickly followed with the insta-lust between Bee and Nolan. The spice is this book is off the charts, the cover may leave you thinking you’re getting a cozy Christmas rom-com but beware with one is laced with so many chillis!

I felt the characters were well portrayed and accepting of themselves as plus-sized and bisexual. Added in that both main characters had a supportive network around them, it was fantastic.

I would highly recommended this book if you’re looking for a heart warming Christmas rom-com with extra spice!

This is amazing sexy romance I love. Great characters with plenty of chemistry. Loved the writing style. Plenty of humour and fun. Mostly smiled my way through this. Such a joy to read.

This was my most anticipated Christmas read but unfortunately it was not for me. The first few chapters the word porn was unnecessarily mentioned over and over again. I don't think Christmas and sex toys mix.

This book was so cute, from the cover to the christmas movie setting! Bee and Nolan had so much chemistry with a great mix of spice and romance! It felt a little bit insta-lovey at times because of how fast they fall for each other. I do think that’s because of them feeling like they knew each other before they met from them both being fans of each other.

I loved:
- dual pov
- Christmas movie set/small town romance
- guy falls first
- lots of different representation
- Spice
- heartwarming and cute

Spicy, fun, fluffy! It had what it needed to be successful but the book also did get boring at various points. This unfortunately outweighed the positives of the book. 3.5 stars

Book

A Merry Little Meet Cute was my first Julie Murphy book and also my first “non-intense” Sierra Simone book. It was refreshing and funny, adorable and stigma breaking.
Bee and Nolan are two complex characters living in a complex world where who they truly are is not widely acceptable and they have been fighting against what is considered normal. After years of anonymously crushing on each other they finally meet when they are both filming a wholesome Christmas movie. Their sizzling chemistry is palpable through the entire book and when they finally succumbed to their attraction I swear my phone caught fire.

I also need to mention all the side characters like Sunny, Teddy & Steph, the two other INK members Kallum (with a K) & Isaac, Angel & Luca, amongst all others as they helped make the book all the more enjoyable.

I love the cover of this book, I think it is so cute! I also like that the female character in the cover is plus sized.
I felt like the dialogue was a little bit cheesy which made it hard for me to really get into the story. However, if you are looking for a steamy, Christmas story than there's no need to look any further!

'A Merry Little Meet Cute' was one of my most anticipated books of the year because the synopsis of this book just sounds so good. A porn star and an ex-boy band member being the lead actors in a movie, and they are both huge fans of each other and they fall in love on a Christmas movie set - I was obsessed with the synopsis as soon as I heard it.
There was so much about this book I enjoyed - the cover, the characters, the relationship between Bee and Nolan, the setting and I absolutely loved the humour within this book. The book also touches on subjects such as bipolar and the sex industry, but those are very small parts to the story as the main one is the romance and connection between these two characters.
One of my main problems with this book was how long it was. This book is 400 pages long which is fine but I feel like some parts of the book could have been edited or even shortened as there were times where I was a little bored and found myself not wanting to read because I was constantly being sucked out of the story.
Overall, I did really love this one and found the ending especially really cute. I feel like this book had the perfect mix of spice and romance whilst also having a dash of humour in there too.
This is a perfect Christmas read and really got me in the mood to read more of the Christmas books on my tbr.

a new development in my grinch-esce, christmas hating heart is that i actually very much like and enjoy reading christmas romances. especially ones that are as enjoyable as this.

a merry little meet cute follows nolan, an ex-boyband member trying to clean up his act and bee, a porn star, as they film a hallmark-esce christmas romcom (by the way, i’d totally watch duke the halls) and fall in love along the way — although, falling in love makes it sound slow when in fact nolan practically nosedives into love. he’s head over heels for bee somewhat immediately and there’s something very enjoyable about reading about him (unsubtly) liking her throughout.

one of my favourite aspects of this book was the humour. you suspect romances from romcoms of course, but i think it’s harder to find books that do well on the comedy aspect. not this one though! i laughed out loud on multiple occasions and due to multiple characters and their interactions with one another.

also i can’t end this review without saying that each chapter has a little doddle as a heading. like, come on. how cute is that!

4⭐️ What would happen if a porn star and an ex-boyband member made a Hallmark Christmas movie…

Well, this book is what would happen. And it would be spicy, funny, heart-warming, angsty and all around a good time!

Bee has been trying to break into mainstream media for a while now, but her ClosedDoors account and her freelance porn films pay the bills well enough, and she genuinely loves her job, so she’s really in no real rush. When Teddy, a trustworthy producer tells her that he has a spot for her in a Hope Channel original movie, she jumps on the opportunity. The gig comes with a couple of conditions, though, the main one being that no one can know that new up-and-coming actress Bee Hobbes is also Bianca Von Honey, famous porn star. Nolan is ready to take on this second chance at stardom, to grab his ruined reputation as INK’s bad boy and turn it into something wholesome and easily profitable… Because the medical bills are piling up and he can’t take much more heat. His family needs him and there is nothing he’s not willing to give to make sure that his mother and little sister healthy and safe. Including, but not limited to, making a Christmas movie during actual Christmas season, and leaving his family behind to shoot in Vermont.

From an extremely proud and sex positive fat FMC to a sweet, debauched ex bad boy MMC, this book really takes the cake. Bringing inclusivity into romance books is really the future and books like this one make me really excited about what’s to come. The world is slowly but surely turning into a better place, but it’s still especially brutal for people who don’t fit whatever the current standards of beauty or morality may be. We see some of it in here, but ultimately, it’s a romcom so there’s a happy ending. Which I’m extremely pleased about, I love happy endings! No pun intended… but also maybe pun intended.

Both MCs are bisexual – and it was particularly fun reading about these two because Nolan was Bee’s teen crush and bi-idol! It was just so f*cking adorable!

I’m not giving it the whole five stars because: (spoilers)

1. It wasn’t as spicy as I expected for a porn star and a wild-child boyband MCs. Also, I felt kind of cheated out the whole sex-toy-suitcase scenario that I’d been waiting for since the very first chapter. Seriously, it was teased so much, and we hear about the fully stocked suitcase and the lubes so many times, and it’s taken absolutely nowhere – what a tease! Not a single toy or lube used. Really… I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.

2. I didn’t love that Nolan came forth with his support for Bee when everyone was already defending her anyway. We know that it’s not like that because of his POV and all, but really… it’s just too little, too late.

(end of spoilers)

Overall, though, this book was awesome and the best book I could have picked up to begin this year’s Holiday Season!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
🌶️🌶️/ 5

I really struggled with this book, it should have been a really easy and enjoyable read for me as this is just the type of story I would normally pick., I had no connection to either characters And this really made me struggled However I really struggled to get into this book to get into this book

Fantastic. Utterly and completely wonderful. Spicy and heart-warming all at once. I loved everyone in it, the stakes felt so real and were successfully navigated. I love a romance book that keeps to the Third Act Tragedy trope but makes it so the couple faces off against something, instead of each other. No stupid misunderstandings causing strife that literally one sentence could resolve for Bee and Nolan. The entire cast of characters were brilliant and so fully realised.

Never read anything by Julie Murphy or Sierra Simone before but I will absolutely be seeking them out.

Also, I'll take a book about Angel and Luca any time they want to write it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this!

I absolutely in love love love with this story so much! Such an amazing holiday romance, I am in awe! Everything about this book is perfect. I love it.

I loved Bee & Nolan as individual characters and as a couple both. They had their own struggles and issues going into the story and their arcs were done beautifully. I loved how they came together as a couple and were so understanding. They had such healthy communication it was a treat to watch! Even the third act break up made 100% sense & didn't feel forced or unnecessary at all.

I love how sex work positive and body positive the story was. I loved how it was not mentioned in passing but was given the time it deserved. All the characters in the main ensemble were very supportive and I love that. I also love how everyone belonged in the lgbtqiap+ community and it wasn't something that was focused on in a weird way. The main couple is an m/f relationship where both of them are bi and almost every other character, apart from a couple of them, belong to the community as well.

This was such an engaging read I stayed up till 4:30am to finish it. Hashtag no ragrets. I hope that the authors continue working together and convert this one story into a whole series because there are so many characters I found interesting and would love to know more about!

This was a fun, albeit very raunchy, read, perfect for the season.
There is definitely a bit of dissonance between cover and content that might throw readers, particularly as one of the authors is primarily known for YA and MG fiction.

Description 🔖

Bee Hobbes (also known as Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-sized adult entertainer and with a huge following and the support of her two moms and all of her friends, there’s not much more she could ask for. But she does want more. She wants a more family-friendly career in acting and so when she is offered a role on a Christmas movie for the squeaky clean Hope Channel, she jumps at the chance.

Things take another step in a positive direction when Bee finds out that her co-star is none other than Nolan Shaw; ex boy band member who Bee had a huge crush on back in her younger years. Nolan is on the movie to try and give his career a new boost and move away from his bad boy reputation so he is on strict orders to get the movie shot and keep his trousers on. This could be difficult though as he recognises Bee from her ClosedDoors account and he is a huge fan.

As Bee and Nolan strike up a secret sexual relationship, sneaking away from set for quickies, they can’t keep their hands off one another, but if their secret gets out, both of their careers will be ruined. Is their relationship more than sex and is it worth it? Or do their careers and families come first?

General Thoughts 🤔

This was such an easy breezy book to get through, it was the book version of a popcorn movie. It didn’t require any deep thought or concentration, I was able to get myself comfortable and let the words wash over me. I liked that nothing was too serious in the story and I didn’t feel like I was having my heart ripped out of my chest. Just like all of the characters in Christmas Notch in Vermont, I had all of the Chrismassy, dreamy feels and it was lovely.

Characters 👫👭👬

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get too attached to any of the characters and I felt like I had surface level relationships with all of them. I did like Bee. I especially liked how comfortable she was with who she was, what she looked like and all of her decisions in life. If only everyone in the world could be like this and therefore not feel like they have the right to an opinion on other people’s lives.

For the giggles, I really liked Luca. His sassiness and attitude killed me and he was the kind of person that I feel like I would want to befriend if I was on a movie set.

Writing Style ✍️

I am always intrigued about how co-authors work together to write a book. The logistics of it fascinate me. I never understand how as a reader I’m unable to pick out the voice of each author and the story flows seamlessly with the same tone and feel. This book was the same and if I hadn’t known that there were two authors beforehand, I still would have been none the wiser.

Although this book was entertaining and I read it relatively quickly, there wasn’t really much story to it. Not a lot really happened other than Bee and Nolan getting it on. I didn’t feel a deep connection between the two of them even though I think it was implied that they had one. I think that there could have been a lot of scenes removed and replaced with some deeper character development that may have made me feel more invested in the story.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

This was a very easy book to read. It had me giggling at parts and blushing at others. I really liked the setting of the book and I kind of wish a Christmas Notch existed in real life. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to connect with the characters or their relationship, but it was entertaining, light hearted and not in the least bit serious. I recommend this book if you’re in the mood for something easy, breezy and definitely steamy.

This book was SO CUTE! I was super excited when I saw that Julie Murphy had teamed up with Sierra Simone to write a steamy romance, as Julie Murphy’s books are some of my faves and I always love the plus-sized representation.

From the outset, I was excited to see how this story unfolded and loved that they were filming a cheesy romance movie for “Hope flix movies”. I love a hallmark Christmas movie so this was right up my street!

Bee was an incredible character and I warmed to her immediately. I LOVED how sex positive this was, how supportive her friends and family were, and how it really delved into double standards for men and women. It also explored fatphobia and the way that society treats plus-sized women.

Nolan was also great and I really felt for him and his determination to do whatever he could to support his mum and sister. The bipolar / mental illness representation was also so well done and I loved his mum as a character. He was so devoted to those in his life and always did his best to look after everyone.

This book was very steamy, so definitely a good one for fans of open door romance! It’s also not a slow burn so be prepared for some spice throughout most of the book. I loved this one and definitely recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for this E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Is Nolan and Bee's story a be warned it is a very raunchy one.

They are filming a movie in a cold and snow covered Vermoth quite the Christmas postcard image is described filming  is  just two weeks. iIt's a first time non- porn for some of and they have to keep it quiet form other, especially as the movie is on 'hope channel' Which I presume is sink of Conservative channel. 

The one part do like in this book is the Nolan's num,  has bipola disorder and his sister  'grew up to quickly as she had to care'. Nolan himself also has to be in constant contact with them, even if that means during filming! 

The cast and crew are annoyed as there is no ending to the script, have a read and you will see if it's worth it.

However be worned this book is very slow pasted especially the sex scene's  which personally didn't like. I did like the changing characters POV.

Thank to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a complementary digital copy of this ebook in exchange for a honest review.

This book was pure festive escapism that I got lost in instantly. The characters in this book feel so real and their personalities just jump off the page. I love the slow burn romance between Bee and Nolan as they are clearly devoted to each other. Beside the romance I also love the body positivity/self love throughout this novel.. After finishing this novel I am desperate for a sequel to read more steamy adventures.