I expected more out of this book than I got. The book was fun and fluffy, with enjoyable characters, but I expected it to be more humorous. The book is a spicey Christmas romance, but it didn't have the laugh-out-loud moments I expected from a Julie Murphy book.

A cute Christmas story! I love that both characters have crushes on each other, and though they’re both famous in their own right, they’re both grounded characters who have dreams and want to help others. I love the body positive messages, and the focus on family and romance development between the two characters.

I’m the sort of person who loves ridiculous holiday romcoms and wishes they contained more romantic content. A Merry Little Meet Cute should have been aces for me: a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star co-star she falls in love with. This has potential!
The basic plot builds on that potential. We have Bee Hobbes, a successful career as a plus-size adult film star paired up with Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. When Bee’s favorite porn producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career could move into a more family-friendly direction, something she’s been thinking about as her time in porn will eventually come to an end. For his part, Nolan’s goal is to be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom and the only way he can see to do that is to step back into the limelight, if he can manage to get his reputation to stop being the first thing every one associates with him.
But… while Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone show themselves to be highly adept writers who do a fantastic job balancing their authorial voices to create one for the book, the execution is uneven, leaving me feeling a bit let down. I loved everything about the fat rep (including Bee’s vacillating between being confident and not), and the sex and sex work positivity. But for the sheer number of times Bee’s sex toys and Nolan’s proclivities and preferences are mentioned on page, much of the raunchier sex was off page if alluded to at all. It was strange to me to read a book that was so up front in its positions regarding presenting less frequently mainstream topics in romance, but not following through on including them in the actual relationship that the book is focused on.
I had fun while I was reading the book, got pulled into the ever more complicated goings-on of the characters. But… I never felt that urge to get back to them after I put the book down, and I had to talk myself up to getting my review written, having ignored it for the better part of a week once I was finished. I think I’ve gotten to the heart of the matter, though. While I loved all the parts of this book, the reason I don’t love the book is because the emotional component of the relationship building between Bee and Nolan is the least present thing in the book, and that’s a damn shame.

Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A Merry Little Meet Cute
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook / Physical
Date Published: 9/20/22
Author: Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Publisher: Avon Books
Pages: 418
GR: 3.94

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Avon Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: This was a fantastic read cover to cover, that was fun, and I throughly enjoyed. The story is narrated in a dual POV by Nolan and Bee with a bonus narration at the end. The chapters were short, which was great for leaving off on. Nolan and Bee were the perfect couple. I loved the plus size representation, and the fact that she is a porn star just tops the cake. The authors also tackled mental health wellness and did it very gracefully. Humor + Christmas + Hot Romance = The PERFECT Romance to kick off the holidays. This was my first book by this power duo, so I will be adding more to my TBR. The supporting characters were top notch and I can see several of them getting their own book, such as Teddy Fletcher, Angel, Sunny or Luca. The story was sweet, spicy, funny, and beautiful, all rolled into one. The characters were developed well with depth, witty banter, steamy scenes, insanely deep chemistry, and built up amazingly. Bee is strong, confident, and independent. Nolan grew tremendously through the book, becoming less selfish and more supportive. The authors’ writing style was a power duo that was complex, funny, spicy, and just brilliant. I highly recommend this book!

When plus-sized adult film star Bianca von Honey and former bad-boy Nolan Shaw, a boy band member turned actor, get cast opposite one another in a Hallmark movie-esque time travel rom com, she’s under orders to not reveal her porn industry connection, and he’s under orders to maintain a squeaky-clean image for rebranding. Bee keeps her composure when she meets the fantasy-inspiring man whose photos are still taped all over the walls and ceiling of her childhood bedroom, and Nolan pretends not to recognize Bee as the alt-porn star who has been not only feeding his spank bank for three years, but hides his super-fan top-tier support of her members-only ClosedDoor (think OnlyFans) account. The chemistry seems to be there, but she thinks the funny look on his face when they meet is because he thinks she’s fat (he doesn’t).

No one except Bee knows Teddy Ray Fletcher, producer of the film under the newly minted Fletcher Productions, is also Uncle Ray Ray, budget porn mogul. Due to an unfortunate accident that takes out several original crew members, Teddy substitutes behind the scenes crew members gleaned from the adult film industry for hair, wardrobe, and gaffer. Mums the word, because no one can know the streams have been crossed, or the family-friendly Hope network will drop the Duke the Halls project and Teddy will be out a lot of much needed cash.

BrillIantly plotted, inclusive, diverse, sweet and raunchy, the narrative is fucking hilarious and full of quick comebacks, racy references, cultural allusions and laugh-out-loud funny moments. It’s entirely likely authors Murphy and Simone alternated the chapters as Bee and Nolan, but the voices and narrative, while different, are cohesive. I have sense that Murphy brings along the YA drama and angsty, pop culture allusions and movie-making know how, while Simone adds in the romance and historical aspects to create a really seamless whole; when Bee and Nolan are arguing over which BBQ reigns supreme (Texas or Kansas), the authors might be making their own preferences known, but it works.

Characters were multifaceted and diverse in background, ethnicity and sexuality, all normalized and embraced. Most of the Christmas romances I read exist in a vacuum of other religions and cultures not existing, but A Merry Little Meet cute references multiple Jewish-adjacent characters, which was refreshing and affirming. This holiday romance novel also deals positively with mental illness, sex work and slut-shaming, body positivity and fat shaming and feminism.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #MerryLittleMeetCute from #NetGalley.

this book shocked me in so many good ways! funny, heart felt, and a step away from the usual christmas romance book, a merry little meet cute was a fun read! bee and nolan’s quick banter jumped off the page.

Rating 4/5
Plot 4/5
Spice 4/5
Writing 4/5
Character Development 4/5

[I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book]

“A Merry Little Cute Meet” by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone tells the story of Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) and Nolan Shaw. Bee is a well-known plus-size adult film star. When Bee’s favourite producer casts her to star in a family-friendly Christmas movie, her career changes directions. Bee tries her best to continue her adult film life while also starring in this “squeaky-clean” film however she finds it challenging to do both. Nolan is an ex-boy band member who is in desperate need of redemption for his career in order to support himself, his sister, and his mom. Nolan is Bee’s childhood crush and discovers that he will be co-starring in the Christmas movie. The two start off on their best behaviour however when Nolan recognizes Bee from her ClosedDoors account, things quickly heat up. The two begin a secret relationship, however, when the reporter who sabotaged Nolan’s music career comes snooping again, the two must work to continue to keep their relationship a secret or perhaps reveal their status and deal with the consequences.

This was such a cute rom-com! I loved how sweet and spicy the book was and the plot was interesting! Whoever decided on “Nolan Shaw” as the name deserves some reward because it sounds crisp asf LOL The banter was good and Nolan Shaw was hot asf. Overall, a fun read, cute, sweet, and spicy read!

Thank you so much to the Publisher and Netgalley for an arc of this book!

This book was really fun and I loved this writing duo. I also loved how sex positive this book was. Bee and Nolan were both great characters and I enjoyed reading about them. The cast of characters was also great! And I loved that the prologue and epilogue were narrated by a different character!

I felt like the book was a bit long and there is one spoilery part that kind of made me feel a bit awkward/cringe but it didn’t bother the characters, and so I can definitely overlook it myself! This book is fun, super steamy, a little Christmas-y and I love the diverse cast. I definitely recommend!

Really enjoyed the first half of this in particular, but the second half gets less good with overly complicated and flimsy obstacles and backstory.

3.5/5

I am really, really sorry but I could not finish this book. It was just too raunchy for me -- I wanted to like it and I was interested in the storyline but there was too much graphic masturbation and other kinds of sex (and I'm not a prude) for me to stay with it.

Fun and flirty, this is a wonderful 5 star collaboration of two very talented authors.
I highly recommend this book, as well as their individual works, and I hope this won't be their only coauthored story.

I really enjoyed this book. I have not read any books by either of these authors, so I was glad to try something new. After reading about the authors, I can really see how their characters are reflected in the author's own backgrounds. Sierra Simone is from Kansas City, which is also where I am from, so I really appreciated all the 'local' callouts. It was a pleasant surprise. I liked the story line and banter back and forth between the two main characters. I will definitely recommend this to my friends, especially my Kansas City friends.

I was so excited for this book! The premise is that an ex-boyband popstar is starring in a Hallmark Christmas movie with a fat pornstar (except nobody can know she's a pornstar and this is all an accident) ((and the she just so happens to be his favorite pornstar)) so like there is a lot that intrigued me. They're both trying to make their acting careers take off and there's a lot in the balance for both of them if it doesn't happen.

Unfortunately, the book stays pretty surface-level relationship-wise. The two MCS are interested in each other on sight of course but then the insta-love hits hard and fast which I personally don't like. The characters also read very young to me which kept confusing me since they are both possibly in their 30s? The books is very sex-positive but just talking about how you have a suitcase full of sex toys and never using them and then having some vanilla sex? I wanted more from all the promise this books hands out.

The book is fairly long but it almost seems like too many issues are brought into it. There's a mental illness storyline, fatphobia, sex work and all that entails in the world, fame and privilege or every kind, LGBTQIA issues, both our MCs are bi disasters, etc. All of this is shoved into about one week of story? The characters don't really have time to know each other and honestly the first time they fuck I was AGHAST!

Even with all of this, there's a sweetness throughout the book that I truly enjoyed. The supporting character friends (as always) make the book and the MCs have some moments that I swooned over. I liked that the authors tried to really make this a book with a lot of intersectionality while still understanding the privilege of each main character and showing the support and condemnation of the world based on so many different aspects of personhood.

This is a fairly quick read for the page-count and it's perfect for those looking for a holiday romance in the upcoming months!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy seamlessly team up in A Merry Little Meet Cute, a Christmas rom-com with enough steam to power Santa's sleigh. Plus-size adult film performer Bee Hobbes' producer is covertly attempting a career pivot to family-friendly Christmas films and when the lead actress for his first movie is suddenly unavailable, Bee is unexpectedly cast in her first mainstream role. Her costar is none other than her teen crush, former boy band member Nolan Shaw, who happens to be a huge fan of hers. Both actors--known to some as bisexual disasters--need the shoot to go well, Bee to build a career for when she retires from adult entertainment and Nolan to pay his mother's medical bills. Can they resist their attraction, keep Bee and her producers' other professional endeavors secret and make some movie magic?
A Merry Little Meet Cute is a big hearted, frequently hilarious romance with the character-driven writing Julie Murphy is known for and the emotional depth and searing eroticism of Sierra Simone. This body-, sex-, and sex work-positive story manages to be sexy, funny and even whimsical at times, indulging in physical and emotional intimacy while maintaining tension throughout. Readers will be grateful that the authors have neatly set up sequels, because A Merry Little Meet Cute is the perfect gift for any time of year.

Bee Hobbes gets the role of a lifetime, starring in a Christmas-themed romcom alongside her teenage crush, the disgraced ex-boy-band member Nolan Shaw, who is working to revamp his image and restart his career. The thing is, though, Bee already has a successful film career - in porn, acting under the name Bianca Von Honey, a fact she needs to keep secret from the super conservative movie production company, or she and Nolan will both face the consequences.

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. I'm new to romcom reading and have a decidedly non-Christmasy attitude in general, so A Merry Little Meet Cute was my first-ever Christmas romcom, and omg it killed it. The body positivity. The sex positivity. The super steamy business. This was such a fun book and I'm so happy I read it. I haven't read anything by either author before, and I clearly need to look up Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone's backlists and get to work. 5 giant twinkly Christmas stars.

Even though I loved the premise and body positivity in this book, something just felt amiss. There is good representation to certain topics, but not things that most people can necessarily relate to. I didn’t find myself getting attached to either character and ended up DNFing about halfway through. I was really hoping this would be a fun Christmas read, but sadly it misses the mark. I am only rating based on what I did read.

Pub date: 9/20/22 (out now)
Genre: romance (insta-love, brush with fame, secret romance, bisexual MCs)
One sentence summary: Adult film star Bee is cast in a Christmas movie with her childhood crush, Nolan Shaw, and they'll both have a hard time keeping things PG on the film set.

Reader beware: this book is far spicier than the cute illustrated cover indicates! I liked both Bee and Nolan - they are both self-proclaimed "bisexual disasters" - and their big personalities were so fun. Insta-love is not my favorite trope, but I felt like they made sense together! Their efforts to be squeaky clean on the Hallmark-like movie set were entertaining and comedic.

My main criticism of this book is that it felt about 100 pages too long - IMO, 400+ pages is too long for a romcom. But I still enjoyed the read, and it was a fun Christmas-y story! 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

This was fun, spicy and cute! I didn't expect anything less from these two authors. I loved the characters especially Bee. Knocked a star off because I thought it was a little to long at parts.

I was desperately curious to see how Sierra Simone (scorching hot) and Julie Murphy (who I knew from YA and one closed door Disney book) would do together. And we definitely get the scorching hot set in Christmas town.

I started off strong with this, but it became kind of stressful because you know the other shoe is going to fall eventually. It's more a matter of who will drop it and how hard will it hit. It took me a long time to finish it because I just wasn't motivated.

Sex positive, good fat rep. Recommended if you want a Hallmark Christmas movie to star a former boy band bad boy obsessed with his plus size secret porn star co-star, and don't mind the stress of knowing it's all going to fall apart before it's put back together.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The premise is super fun. There was plenty of balance in the story as well. There were plenty intimacy, spice, and humor. I did have difficulty connecting with the characters, but it didn't have a huge effect on my enjoyment of the story. There are plenty of laughable moments. I really liked Bee. She's smart, funny, and her self acceptance is absolutely wonderful. She embraces her body and makes no apologies for her work in sex films. I also liked that she was self assured and knew exactly what she wanted for herself in and out of the bedroom. Overall, a fun read with a wonderful lead, strong humor and just the right amount of spice for my liking.