Isaac is a former boy band member who is mourning after losing his wife years prior.

Sunny Palmer is a part time adult film acress and make up artist.

They shared a one night stand threesome that has stayed in their minds. Forced proximity, friendship, grief, lust, and chemistry give these two a second chance.

This is really like reading a spicy Hallmark movie and I loved every bit!

A Jingle Bell Mingle

This book is not what it looks like! Do not let the cute hallmark cover fool you into thinking this will be a sweet romance that is clean. With that being said, this books was a spicy little thing! The cute Christmas town packs all the spice and festive into one. I liked the depth of the story we got for the characters and the story line that was told along with it. Both Sunny and Isaac are dealing with unresolved grief. Sunny and Isaac develop a chemistry and the one night stand becomes more than one night. I think the story within a story was a cute touch as Sunny works on to solve the Christmas Angel mystery. The cat made me giggle and how hard Isaac tried to get the cat to like him.
This book is not for everybody (especially if you are closed door romance) and the cover is a very easy draw in factor for that.

Overall the book was cute, kept my attention, the spice was spicy, and the cat made the story.

I was given an arc of this book for an honest review.
I have never squealed for a series of books like I have for Christmas Notch! The story of Isaac and Sunny was by far my favorite! It was laugh out loud funny, and the love story was everything you would want! The past characters make hilarious cameos and a certain snobby cat steals a good bit of the book! If you love Hallmark love with some spice, this series is definitely for you!

4-4.5 ⭐️
Sunny and Isaac's story has been my favorite of the interconnected standalones in the Christmas Notch series, and it's no wonder because I am an absolute sucker for a Sad Boy widower hero! Rom-coms are always a hard sell with me because I don't find a lot of things funny, but this book was just the right balance with none of the too-cutesy, OTT humor or slapstick that is not my favorite. It is intelligently funny, with ongoing bits that really pay off repeatedly as it goes along.

As with the whole series, I love the sex-positivity and nonchalant LGBTQ presence, love the sweetly steamy scenes and poignant emotions from both main characters' back stories. As I said before, this is an interconnected standalone but as the last in the series the cameos and through-line story of Teddy and Steph mean more because I've seen all of these people already, and without knowing their backgrounds they would truly be almost inconsequential appearances of non-fleshed out characters.

I'm a little sad to see Christmas Notch end since it is rare for me to like a rom-com or a holiday-themed story, and I enjoyed all of these and this little town, but it is a fitting ending and we got to see everyone get their HEAs and that works for me!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

I'll be honest I jumped up and down when I got the ARC for the third full-length entry into the Christmas Notch series. These books are truly one of my favorite romance discoveries of the last year. I love the writing style, the characters, and so much more. There's truly so much to love. In A Jingle Bell Mingle, we're finally getting Isaac's (the final member of INK, boy band sensation for those of you just tuning in) story and returning to Christmas Notch. And it doesn't disappoint, returning with a cast of characters that followers of the Christmas Notch series will definitely recognize. With the same quick witted writing style that we've come to love, everything has been kicked up a notch by our female MC - Sunny - who has a personality I absolutely adore. I found myself highlighting so many quotes -- my favorite of which is <spoiler><i>"As for the Twilight role-play... let's just say the glitter body oil I packed was put to good use"</i></spoiler> And with the epilogue, every characters arc is wrapped up neatly. I truly wish there was another book on its way in this series simply because of how much I loved the writing and the characters development. But alas, this marks the end. Overall, however, it's a great ending to a great series.

You really need to read the entire series before jumping into A Jingle Bell Mingle. I have only read the first book so I felt pretty lost reading the third installment. The cover of this book gives "cute Christmas romance" but the subject matter was more on the dark side. It also falls more on the lust side of romance than lust.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this advanced copy. A Jingle Bell Mingle is available on September 24, 2024.

This is the 3rd book in a series. Like the other ones I felt like this book was average. I think this one started very slow. It did get better once I got past the halfway point. I'm glad that I read it as it's in a series which I've read. I felt the need to complete it. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. #JingleBellMingle #NetGalley

I read the first book in this interconnected stand-alone series a few years ago and then somehow didn't realize there were more. I saw Julie and Sierra moderate a panel at Apollycon (side note: they seem like they have a seriously fun friendship) this year and was excited to learn that there were more! I devoured the books I missed and was super excited to see that the final book was available for request on NetGalley, and now, here we are.

I think this might be my favorite of the series. This one focuses on Sunny and Isaac. Sunny is a member of Teddy's merry band of misfits and accidentally pitched and sells a film to the Hope channel... and then has to figure out how to write it. Isaac is a widower who has hit a creative block when it comes to music. He's not sure how to move forward after the death of his wife 5 years ago, who he considered his muse. The two hooked up in the past and end up roommates with bennies after reconnecting at a wedding. Both fairly closed off from feelings, they must figure out what they want and need, while researching a town myth (that Sunny pitched for the movie) and trying to overcome creative blocks.

We get cameos from former main characters and get to see how they're all doing. The spice spices (hello, gingerbread scented lotion), and there are some big feelings to contend with. This was such a nice ending to the series! I'd recommend it to those looking for a spicy holiday romcom.

Thanks to Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for an alc of this book for an honest review!

Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone are the queens of steam so of course I had to pick up A Jingle Bell Mingle to kick my holiday season off! This book is part of a series but can absolutely be read as a standalone without missing a thing.

Taking place in a cozy, winter town in Vermont the perfect backdrop is in place to meet our two main characters. Sunny, an amazing part time adult-film star slash movie director slash screenwriter slash diaper mogul in making. Sunny is all sunshine and no direction in her life and with the baggage she carries, she honestly prefers it that way. Isaac, a boy band star with a broken heart just wants to finish his last album and be left alone. Together can Sunny and Isaac find some Christmas magic to heal each other? Take that and throw in a ton of spice, because you know it is there if Ms Julie and Ms Sierra are around and BOOM. You have an epically endearing, yet spicy, holiday read.

Thank you to @Netgalley and the publisher for providing me the E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, what a cute, raunchy and heartwarming rom com! I enjoyed these characters so much, probably my favorite couple out of the series! Isaac is our brooding heartthrob who is still grieving over the death of his muse. Sunny is our ray of sunshine who is having a writers block for a screenplay she is writing. These two start to work together in more ways than one, until feelings begin to complicate things.
A must read for the holidays!!

#AJingleBellMingle #NetGalley

This book is so funny, but it also made me cry. I got completely sucked in and I just couldn’t stop reading. The theme of love after loss is so well done and characters are so relatable. The writing is absolutely seductive and the story holds you to the very end. I absolutely love Christmas and I think this is a book I’ll read every year. You won’t regret becoming obsessed with this one.

4.5 ⭐️✨
Someone get me some water, I’m still on fire from the spice in this book. 🔥

Good lawd.

The MMC, Isaac, has been pining for the FMC for 2 years (bless his soul) after a salacious tryst that involved the FMC and a plus one. I feel like everyone is bisexual in this book, and our MMC and FMC exhibit that right from the start. We discover that our sad MMC is a retired-ish pop star who has a gloomy past—that he is literally looking for some sunshine in his life. The FMC’s name is Sunny (too cutesy, maybe? I’ll take it though). She is an heiress and an ex-porn star (cue the salacious threesome with Isaac). They’re both nepo babies and end up being roomies with bennies at Isaac’s mansion.

They embark upon an adventure where they attempt to find a muse for Isaac and solidify a story for Sunny’s movie, which was promised to bring feel good Christmas charm + a threesome with a ghost. 👻 During their adventure, Isaac and Sunny have to deal with their off-the-charts chemistry that they both try to ignore.

This book has it all really. The slowest of slow burn love. Out of this world spice. Angst. A mystery to be solved. A cat from Hell to woo. Copious amount of Capri Suns. Cozy settings. Several cosmically failed first dates. Poignant grief guide morsels that make you feel all the things. It was cozy, heartfelt, and the perfect rom-com read.

3.5 Stars

I added Capri Suns to my grocery order after I finished this book.

Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy once again provide an inventive and HOT holiday rom com. I love this series and thoroughly enjoyed this latest story.

This book was the perfect balance of sweet and spicy!! Sometimes a girl just needs both!!

This book futures Isaac, a former boy band widower. Who has turned into a heartbroken hermit crab after the death of the love of his life. He is convinced that he will never love again and is destined to spend the rest of his life alone. Enter Sunny, a semi porn star, turned writer for the Hope channel, whose path is crossed at a friends wedding. When they are both looking to hook up, they end up using an app and matching with each other, remember their previous experience and threesome together, they agree to a one night stand and nothing more. That is until Isaac sees the despair that is Sunny’s dilapidated hotel room and he invites he back to his mansion to live with him while Sunny’s writes her screenplay and tries
to unravel the mystery of the Christmas Angel!

Can Isaac find love again? Can Sunny finish her screen play? Read this book for sweet, hot and heavy romance!!

4.5⭐
I have enjoyed each of the novels and novellas in the Christmas Notch series, but this one is definitely my favorite. This author described raunch-com had me laughing and tearing up in places. It's simultaneously charming, hilarious, filthy, sad, cathartic, vulgar, and sweet. I get the feeling that Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy have had a great time writing this series, and it definitely translated to my reading experience.
In Jingle Bell Mingle, we finally get the story of the final member of INK and perpetual sad boi Isaac Kelly and part time adult film actress/director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer. I am sad to say goodbye to Christmas Notch, but this final installment does a fantastic job of gathering all the hilarious and heartwarming side characters we have met through the series for a sweet send off. We get updates on each of the previous featured couples, and I really loved the unravelling of the story within the story of the Christmas Legend Sunny is writing her screenplay about.
The rawness of Isaac's grief and love for his deceased wife just jumps off the page. The way that it's explored by Sunny, and her reactions to it, came across as genuine to me. I felt it when she reached her breaking point, but also loved how she made space for Brooklyn in their relationship.
One of the things I appreciate most about this series, and this book in particular, is its openness about exploring the sexuality spectrum through a diverse cast of characters. It's progressive and body and sex positive without reveling in trauma. The spice is HOT and plentiful. We see relationships of all types flourish in healthy ways. Overall I recommend the series, and have a special place in my heart for Isaac and Sunny.
Thank you to Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy for the ARC opportunity!

i expected a fun, cozy, christmassy read and while it was all of those things it was also emotional and heartwarming. this book made me shed tears and kept me laughing. i think this was the spiciest book out of the christmas notch series so far and it did not disappoint. the friends to lovers really made this book for me, i love how they showcased being able to fall in love slowly and having it naturally occur between two friends. includes grief, trauma, plus size fmc, and lgbtq representation!
thank you to netgalley and avon books for letting me read this early in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the eARC of “A Jingle Bell Mingle” by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone in exchange for my honest review.

A Jingle Bell Mingle is book 3 in the Christmas Notch series. It continues with sharing more details on the characters from the first two books but it’s untimely about the unexpected second chance at love for Isaac Kelly and Sunny Palmer. Sunny is in need of a place to stay so she becomes roommates with Isaac in his mansion along with her evil cat. Along the way they form a friendship while investigating a legend of Christmas Notch for Sunny’s movie.

I wasn’t really hooked on the book until the last half. I enjoyed the unfolding of the Christmas Notch story within the story. If you haven’t read the first two books, you may get a little lost with the characters, therefore I highly recommend you read the books in order. Overall, I’d give this one a 3 stars.

3.5 stars. Two bisexual disasters fall in love. What more do you need?

It has its heavy moments, with Isaac and Sunny talking about shared experiences of loss, but overall is good dirty holiday fun. I enjoy that they both grow as people and respect that their love is the quiet kind that sneaks up on you - both of them needed something quiet and comforting.

Thank you to NetGalley, Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone, and Avon Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone had me at “potentially demonic cat”. I love a book that makes me cry from laughing one minute, and then cry from heavy loss the next. This book did just that. Emotional, hysterical, and perfect for a snowy day by the fire!

***Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for sending me an e-arc of A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone! All thoughts are my own!***

Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel six months ago. With a looming deadline ahead and zero inspiration, Sunny has returned to Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her movie pitch was based.

Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. He is attempting to write his first holiday album in his snow-covered mansion where he can be a hermit in peace.

But after their best friends’ wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat, Mr. Tumnus. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.

The first thing I need to say about this book is IT IS SPICY!! This is probably the spiciest Christmas Notch book so far.

I absolutely love this cast of characters, and I love getting to see them in each book. It makes you feel like you are a part of the Hope Channel cast.

Sunny and Isaac start out by just being roommates with benefits. But with them both grieving in their own ways, Sunny with her parents, and Isaac with his wife. Them having this shared past in mind, it definitely creates a conflict for them. They realize there is a connection between them that makes it impossible to stay away from each other. I was just glad they finally got over their own emotional hurdles to be together.

A Jingle Bell Mingle is available September 29th!