Cute, spicy fun holiday read! Love that Sierra Simone added to the spice of this. I had high expectations due to other reviews and description. Only slightly disappointed

Now that the strike at Harper Collins is resolved, I can say that I enjoyed this as a holiday read. I am always looking for holiday books with rep from other religious celebrations.

I am NOT a holiday romance kind of girl, but I just couldn’t pass this up! I’m so glad I didn’t because this book was good. So so good! I wasn’t expecting it to be as steamy and such a smirking good time. But. It. Was. Loved loved loved. Read it if you like a curvy h and just an overall good time.

Small town Hallmark Channel-esque romance, but make it super sexy. This is a fun spin on the rise of Hallmark-esque romance novels that have popped up since the channel's wholesome Christmas movies became unavoidably popular, but the most special thing here is the embrace of sex work. There's never any judgment and, while Bee wants to get out of the sex work industry, her attempts at self-growth and change isn't rooted in self-loathing or embarrassment. She's proud of her body and her talent, as she should be.

This is one of my favorite books of the year. The fact that the premise is a bit absurd and the action is placed in an ideal Holiday setting is just a recipe for a wonderful read. If you like characters that are well written, sex positive and not as shallow as you'd expect at first glance get this book now, it will be most enjoyable.
This is my first read from author Julie Murphy, but definitely not my first from Sierra Simone - her books are pretty much a 1-click buy for me and now that I have discovered Julie's voice I am running to get hers as well.

I absolutely love Julie Murphy and I will read and recommend everything she writes. Her characters are funny, relatable and well written. This is definitely an adult book and not your typical holiday story!

I loved this book! I thought the writing was so good and the characterization incredibly unique. The chemistry was palpable. I didn't love the conflict nor the resolution (really the end of the book) but the rest of the book truly made up for it. I can definitely see myself rereading this next Christmas season!

I really loved this very steamy romance - fat positive, also sex worker positive and always second chances in love and life

Overall: 4.75/5
Spice level: 3.5/5
Tropes: Hollywood, coworkers, LGBTQ (both main characters are bisexual), secret affair, plus size rep

CW: fatphobia

I don't usually get drawn into holiday stories, but this was Sierra Simone so I had to. Also, this story is way spicier than the cover lets on. But that makes sense because the heroine is a plus size p0rn star and the hero is a reformed bad boy pop star.

What I loved was how Bee and Nolan had basically pined for each other from afar for years and didn't know it. It created an almost instant chemistry when they met in person to star in a Hallmark-esque movie together.

I really loved the unapologetic and sex positive nature of this book. And with both characters being bisexual and a surrounding group of diverse characters, there was plenty of representation.

I loved the secret forbidden nature of the story since they were coworkers and had reputations to protect. I was definitely hoping for a p3gging but it didn't happen. The hero definitely hinted at being interested in it.

Overall i loved all the characters and the pacing of the story. And the spice was nearly perfect.

The way sex workers are represented in this book is fantastic. And the stigma and external pressures are heartbreaking and the judgment they experience hurts.

The romance is spicy and realistic. As realistic as famous stories can be.

A festive and steamy romcom! Perfect balance of steam and holiday fun. I hope to read more from the author duo of Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone.

"A Merry Little Meet Cute" is the absolute delight of the 2022 holiday season, and this is a writing duo for the win! I loved Bee and her sweet nature, unapologetic adult film work, and real curves, and boy-band bad-body Nolan and his jaw-dropping infatuation with the actress of his dreams, along with his love for and commitment to his mom and sister. The picturesque film-set setting of Christmas Notch, Vermont, and the supporting cast of characters really round out this world, and it's a joy from start to finish, a perfect mix of angsty and sexy, with scenes hot enough to melt any Northeastern winter wonderland, which I really appreciate in a Christmas title since love scenes in the holiday genre are very often watered down, fade to black, or even nonexistent. Even better is that with confirmed sequels featuring Nolan's former boy-band members, each with their own fascinating stories, we're going to have more to come in this finely balanced and rich world, and I can't wait for Kallum and Winnie's story!

Don't let this title and cover fool you. This book is NOT a sweet, "Hallmark" romance! It was pretty raunchy from page one to the end.

The main character, Bee Hobbes, is a plus-size adult-film star, Bianca Von Honey. She's highly successful at what she does but when one of her favorite producers offers her a starring role in a movie he is making for the Hope channel, she figures her regular consumers wouldn't recognize her in a sweet, clean film. An added bonus for her: her co-star is Nolan Shaw, the boy-band star of her teenage dreams. (Her childhood bedroom is still wallpapered with posters of his face - even on the ceiling.) Can she really pull this off, when their onscreen chemistry steps into offscreen shenanigans?

Nolan Shaw is doing what he can to clean up his act so that he can better support his mother and young sister. When he learns that his co-star is his favorite online drool fest, he's concerned that he won't be able to "keep it zipped", which was his manager's one requirement. Working with Bee is by turns delightful and steamy, but Nolan holds it together until .... Well, read it to find out.

I listened to most of this and really enjoyed the voice of the male lead. Most everyone involved in the story falls into the LGBTQIA+ category, so in some ways, it's surprising that Bee and Nolan end up together. The only thing merry and cute in the story is the location of the movie being filmed. I wasn't a fan of this story, but it did have some pretty humorous moments. I really struggled to complete it, though.

Unfortunately this is a case of the book being very interesting, but the execution wasn’t really for me. I didn’t really like the way the character development was done, but the plot also wasn’t catching my attention either. I definitely think the holiday aspect was cute.

Thank you Netgally and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this book!

Not going to lie, the cover was a little deceiving. I thought this was going to be a cute winter romance but this book was all over the place. It wasnt bad but it wasnt good. The concept was good but the execution was not. Just wasnt my type of book

Is it February? Yes. Do I still have a couple of Christmas trees up? Also yes. Is this book a perfect blend of cute and spicy? Absolutely!

I didn't know much about this one going in, but from the cover I expected a cute Christmas rom com and the spice level was a nice surprise!

I would recommend this one to people who like a Hallmark channel read but with some spice.

Basically- a porn star and former boy band member are filming a holiday movie in an attempt to change public perception about them.

Thank you to @netgalley for a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

Cute story! Definitely has the Julie Murphy touch for making the characters terribly likable. I would super recommend this for anyone who loves a little holiday romance.

An absolutely hilarious meet cute that will charm you from the beginning until the end. Such an a,amazing holiday story that will touch your heart.

Although I enjoyed this book, the title and cover are a ~little~ deceiving, this is a full on erotic romance that almost skips over a 'merry little meet cute.'

The things I enjoyed: the main characters and many others in the story were LGTBQ+, the main character is a sex worker which showcased how difficult this might be for a woman, specifically a plus size woman; many of the side characters support her line of work; the SPICE in this book!!; the setting of a Christmas town was fun and the perfect amount of 'fake Hallmark city'

What I didn't like: although it was very pro-sex work focused, it felt like there was no romance between the two main characters, just sexual tension/drive, it really focused on the physical connection between the two and just threw in an emotional connection that didn't 'click' for me

Although this book might have been a little longer than needed, I read it within a week and enjoyed it along the way! I also read this not during the holiday season and still thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of the book. Definitely would recommend for someone looking for an easy, quirky read that loves a decent bit of heavy steam scenes.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sharing this a digital reviewer copy of this book in exchange my honest thoughts.

Beneath this sugary sweet pink Christmas cover is a VERY steamy contemporary romance novel. While I read from very chaste to quite open door as an occasional romance reader, this had me blushing more than once.

The dual author writing was seamless; I'm familiar with Julie Murphy's writing style, but this was my first experience with Sierra Simone. The plot was interesting with some unique twists - unlike any holiday story I've read. I really appreciated the novel's LGBTQIA+ representation and body positivity, and enjoyed the Kansas City references as a lifelong Midwesterner.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the review copy.