I gave this 5 stars because I think it's important to have SW/adult entertainer stories that are sex and body positive. I do think that it could have been spicier given the MC profession but it was still good. You can't help but love Bee and this case of characters making up the film crew and I love that Nolan was a fan of hers prior to meeting her. It's such a fun premise with so much that could go wrong. Definitely a fun quick read.

How can a book called 'A Merry Little Meet Cute' not have a single meet cute? Also, this book has completely ruined gingerbread lotion for me.

A Merry Little Meet Cute is a nice twist on the classic holiday romances, focusing on body and sex positivity. I really enjoyed the characters, the whole set-up and all of the commentary, but I felt like this book dragged in places and didn't need to be over 400 pages. If this book had been a bit shorter, some of the pacing issues might have been fixed and the book would have been a bit more enjoyable.

I wish this had worked for me, but I was just never able to get into it! I tried multiple times but could never get past the first few chapters.

Wow took me long enough to review this arc I downloaded LAST YEAR. But I finally decided to pick this up for Christmas in July and I absolutely loved it! It was all the perfect Hallmark Christmas vibes I love + the spice and chemistry these stories truly deserve. I cannot wait to read more from these authors.

An inclusive holiday romance. A quick read though I had a hard time staying interested. I think I just had a hard time getting invested in the story.

An adorable Hallmark Christmas book but make it STEAMY!

This was one of my most-anticipated holiday releases this year and it did not disappoint! I literally felt like I was thrown onto the set of a Hallmark Christmas movie and it provided such a fun and festive escape. I just loved Bee and Nolan. It was so fun that were each a fan of each other before meeting and was like a dream come true when they got together. This is very much “Hallmark-after-Dark” and is very explicit and steamy…like “melt all of that Vermont snow” steamy! A Merry Little Meet Cute just has it all…festive vibes, lots of steam, amazing cast of secondary characters, sex & body positivity, and just an amazing story! I cannot recommend it enough! If I had to give one criticism, I would say that the story was longer than necessary, but it honestly wasn’t a huge deal for me because I flew through the audiobook.

I would 100% recommend the audiobook! It really enhanced my reading experience and I found every opportunity to keep listening which, for me, is always the sign of an amazing audiobook. It is narrated by Joy Nash and Sebastian York (one of my FAVS)!

Read if you like:
-Hallmark Christmas movies
-Celebrity trope
-Inclusive romances
-Lots of steam

Thank you TLC Book Tours, Avon Books, Harper Audio, and Libro.fm for the gifted copies.

Maybe I’ve read too many holiday romance books in a row that I’ve become jaded? Maybe I just thought this whole book was weird? Listen, I’m all for the inclusivity of this book, but I cannot get over how dumb all the characters were in the beginning to think that they’d get away without being found out.

Also, I’ll say this louder for the people in the back, BEING IN LUST DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE IN LOVE. I truly didn’t believe our relationship here between our two main characters. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Regardless of my review, read this if you:
🌶️ Love spicy romance.
🌶️ Love Hallmark movies.
🌶️ Feel very strongly about boy bands from our youth.
🌶️ Want a body positive love story.

Overall - it’s readable, I just think I need to read a horror book or something to cleanse my reading palate 😂

This was a cute read, and (even though it was a rom-com) it sends an important message — not all protagonists have to look the same. I loved all of the different character dynamics and the inclusivity, specifically Bee being a plus sized mc. The falling in love with your co-star was also a great trope. While this book has a lot of great ingredients (including the spice), I felt like something was missing.

I didn’t like Nolan’s POV that much, and I wished they had more memorable conversations. There were a lot of funny moments though! Definitely a quick, funny read!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I didn't love this. First off, there was no meet cute. A meet cute is, by definition, "an amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them." How Bee and Nolan met was not a meet cute. Nothing was charming about how they met or significant about their first encounter except that they recognized each other. So the title doesn't work. IDK, I just didn't really care about Bee's teenage obsession with INK and Nolan's adult obsession with Bianca von Honey. I didn't like Nolan at all. He has one of his own ban's songs as his ringtone? *cringe* His mother is completely inept because she has bipolar disorder? What a disservice to people with bipolar disorder! Can we just have a fat character without the fatphobia? Can they just be fat like Bee and Nolan are just bisexual? Like, it's not a big deal. That's how you normalize it, not by continuing to have fat-shaming in your book even though the fat character is happy in her own skin.

A winning writing combo and a delightful holiday read. Highly recommend! Thanks again to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this book way more than I thought I would. I loved the main characters and the sex positivity. I loved that despite the main character's profession, she was still given a happy ending (no pun intended) and one that was rightly deserved. I liked that they both fantasized each other before they met, which helped trigger their lust and eventual relationship. No matter my thoughts on the industry, I loved how supportive all the friends and family members were of Bee and how they understood that her careers were her choices.

This was amazing!!!! Thank you for the opportunity to read it!

Adult boybander with a bad reputation, a hot full figure baddie, and a cozy Christmas setting,. This was everything I could possibly want in a Christmas novel.

I loved our main characters, and thought that they both bad wonderful development throughout the story. I love the supporting characters, and the absurdity and probableness of this being a situation that could happen. I had so much fun with this, and will recommend this to everyone.

I enjoyed this book a lot and recommended it to several people. It was very fun, although definitely a fluff read. I would consider reading sequels.

A fun holiday romance, full of steam, snark, and heart! Really liked this first novel from powerhouses Murphy and Simone!

I did not have time to finish this title before the publication date. However, it was purchased by my library (and 41 other libraries in our consortia). Our copy has gone out six time since late September :)

This was a fun collaboration between Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone, providing a lot of spice and a story that captures the heart. The hero and heroine are both extremely likeable and the conflict was believable for their circumstances. A great unique holiday romance!

Okay so it was my bad that I didn’t fully read into what this book was and just requested it. This is about celebrities and I don’t really love celebrity romances. With that being said, it was well written.

I was so excited when I read the description for A Merry Little Meet Cute! As someone who loves romance and Christmas, this book caught my eye from the very beginning, add in that it is written by two of my favorite authors, Julie Murphy, and Sierra Simone, I knew that it would be one of my favorite books of the year, and this book did not disappoint.

From the moment that I started reading this book, I could not put it down. The writing captures you from the very beginning, it’s funny and witty, and the characters are so lovable. Simone and Murphy’s writing makes it so easy to be drawn into the book and the characters. I have enjoyed every book that I have read by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone, and I am so glad that I can add this book to the list. It was so nice to see a plus-size MC being unapologetically and publicly loved and appreciated and I really appreciate the fact that this book was so sex-positive and destigmatized sex work both in the writing of the characters and the scenarios that they experience. Bee Hobbes is a plus-size porn star who has a dream of mainstream acting and is getting her big break acting in a wholesome Christmas movie for the Hope Channel, but she has to keep her other identity Bianca von Honey a secret from everyone.

Nolan Shaw, the bad boy with a secret soft side, just wants to forget the past, put his head down, and help his family by acting in this wholesome movie, that is until he meets Bee. Nolan and Bee have their own motivations and secrets to protect, but the chemistry that these two have is incredible and instantaneous, though neither knows (yet) that it began long before they met. Nolan has a secret soft side and is fiercely loyal to and protective of those he loves. Bee is such a great character because regardless of what she is experiencing she is confident and stays true to herself. These are two characters that you can’t help but root for.
If anyone is looking for a holiday read that includes a lot of spice and has real characters that are experiencing real-world issues, I would suggest that they pick this one up. I really admire the fact that Simone and Murphy put so much effort into representing and accurately portraying sex work and mental health issues such as bipolar disorder while destigmatizing sex work and mental health issues. The writing of this book is phenomenal, and you can’t help but love Bee and Nolan.

I absolutely loved this book and have already started reading it again. This is a great read, especially for anyone who loves Christmas and especially Hallmark-esque Christmas movies and wants some more spice. I hope to see more collaborations like this from Murphy and Simone in the future.

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own.