My love for these characters grow with each book. This one explores grief and love after loss and I cant get enough. Christmas Notch is my favorite place to go for the holidays

I’m about to take a bold stance:
This is my favorite Christmas Notch book.

Not only do we get some quintessential small-town romance tropes, but we also get the local lore and original Christmas miracle of Christmas Notch.
Sunny and Isaac are so imperfectly perfect for each other, each dealing with their grief in their own special way as they stumble through career drama and big life choices and into each other’s arms.
The spice was as hot and knky as ever! You’re never going to look at a bottle of gingerbread scented body lotion the same way again. Put this one at the top of your Holiday TBR.

My favorite so far from this series. Loved the spice and just in time to get into the holiday spirit.

This is the third book in The Christmas Notch book series and the last one I will be reading. This book follows porn star assistant Sunny and ex-boy band star Isaac. Isaac is still grieving the loss of his wife from several years ago and Sunny is still Sunny from way back in book 1.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 2 stars.
While I enjoyed the first book and the second book was OK, this book departs from the behind the scenes making a Hallmark movie format to teaming up to solve a local legend mystery. Unfortunately I didn’t care about this local legend mystery at all and Sunny was a character best served by small doses. This one just didn’t work out for me.

This was such a fun read. Both main characters are working through some pretty heavy grief and mourning. They have hooked up in the past and just wanted to keep things casual because of shared friends. They end up being roomies with benefits and are both stuck on their current projects. They team up to explore a local Christmas mystery and end up falling in love in the process.

It’s a 4 and a half star book for me but this site doesn’t let me use a half.

I thought this would be a light holiday romp. As the authors describe the book, it's a raunch-com. The story had me absolutely confused for the first few chapters. It's because the book picks up where previous books in the series left off.

The story is mainly about Isaac, who was a boy-band member, but who is now grown, rich, and still a grieving widower, 5 years after his wife's death. He has the hots for Sunny, who used to do porn films. He's invited her in to be a roommate in his mansion in a small town in Vermont. They have a fantastic sex life, but he isn't interested in a long term relationship. But he does need a muse to help him get his last contractual album written and recorded. Sunny is trying to match him up with someone else. She is working on a screenplay about a legendary event in the small town's history.

There is a lot of sex. And it's Christmas time. This one wasn't for me, but other's have found it funny and engaging.

4.5 ⭐️. *kicking my feet in pure joy* (also did Capri Sun sponsor this book?) this book is absolute joy bottled up.

TY to Avon & Harper Voyager and Netgalley for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jingle Bell Mingle was the perfect addition to the Christmas Notch series. This story follows Isaac and Sunny who go from roommates to lovers. I loved the forced proximity. This series is fantastic!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the arc of this book!

I did not read the first two books in the Christmas Notch series, and I wish I had for this book. Although it can be read as a standalone, it took a bit to get into the story since I had no idea who most of the people in the book were. Once I got through those initial chapters, though, I quickly fell in love with Christmas Notch. Sunny and Isaac were the perfect Grumpy Sunshine trope. Aside from watching Sunny and Isaac grow their friendship, I also loved the “Christmas miracle” story that Sunny was trying to discover. It added to much to the story and was beautiful in its own right. There is plenty of spice (many of the characters are porn stars after all), but it was at its heart a Christmas story worthy of the Hope (wink wink). If I had it all to do over, I would read the first two books first, as this is a really fun series and I think it would’ve made the beginning a little easier. But I am going back to them now!

Oh my goodness, I loved A Jingle Bell Mingle. I laughed out loud. I cried. The spice was great. The Lord of the Rings jokes were top tier.

Is the premise of former boy band members falling in love with a ragtag, chosen family of porn stars and their affiliates super believable? Nope! Do I care? Absolutely not.

I thought Sunny and Isaac were delightful and fun. I think they both showed really great character growth over the length of the book. I thought Mr. Tumnus was lovely as were the senior citizen murder detectives. I think the backstory to the Christmas Notch town name was a sweet edition. I also appreciate the inclusion of a number of queer characters.

This is the third book in the Christmas Notch universe, and while I think a reader could enjoy this book without having read the others, I think the backstory would definitely be useful and help the reader keep better track of all of the characters. There are quite a few at this point.

I desperately hope Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone continue writing together. This book was fun and a genuine joy to read.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon & Harper Voyager for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

All the yes! I finally got around to reading one of my most anticipated reads and it did not disappoint at all. It kept me on the edge of my seat and turning the page and not wanting to put it down. I loved everything about it from start to finish and just wish I could read it again for the first time.

We are heading back to Christmas Notch in Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone’s third installment of the Christmas Notch series A Jingle Bell Mingle set to release on 9/24/24. This is Issac and Sunny’s story. Issac is still reeling from his wife’s death four years prior and has hauled up in his mansion with a deadline looming to complete a new music album. Sunny is is town writing a screenplay based on a real life Christmas magic story that takes place in Christmas Notch several decades before. They decide to move into together with the option of becoming each others muse to spark creativity. Of course they don’t just stay roommates. The quickly becoming roommates with benefits that turns into something deeper. I loved hopping back into Christmas Notch. A lot of the characters from the previous two books make appearances, but the surprise star character for me was Mr. Tumnus which is Sunny’s cat. This cat has an immense personality and I think plays the perfect matchmaker. I love a forced proximity via a blizzard trope and this one happens 2-3 times throughout the book and each time furthers the relationship progression. This book touches heavily on grief particularly grief to the point of it’s a persons comfort and safety net. If that is a trigger than proceed with caution. However, the books delivers on the holiday spice scale and I can guarantee this story will keep you warm all winter long.

I absolutely LOVE this series! I love books by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone individually, but I also seriously love them as a writing duo! When I saw this was available on NetGalley I immediately requested it and getting approved made me tear up a little, I was so excited. And this did not disappoint!! I love Sunny and Issac so much!! I really hope they plan on writing more Christmas Notch books, just so so so good! Thank you to NetGalley and to Avon and Harper Voyager for my digital ARC!! ❤️

good stuff. it took me awhile to get into, but i liked it overall. the parallels between the mailman story and sunny x isaac were kind of cheesy, but eh, i got over it lol. the characters are so fun in this series!

#netgalley

I have really loved the Christmas Notch series --- and this 3rd book tied everything up nicely. I loved watching Sunny and Isaac fall for each other and I loved how the Christmas miracle story was intertwined. It was wonderful to see the characters from the other 2 books so we could get a little extra of their stories. I am sad to say goodbye to Christmas Notch and I hope that Julie and Sierra will partner on other books in the future.

TW: Grief, previous loss of loved one(s)
You may enjoy this book if you love:
- spicy romance
- forced proximity
- Christmas
- little bits of magic/miracles
- found family
- friends to lovers

So grateful to the publishers for the opportunity to read this advance review copy. Can't wait to add this gorgeous book to my shelf alongside the other two.

Though it could stand on its own, this book has several great call backs to the earlier books in the Christmas Notch series. A spicy romance that warms your heart at the same time as it flushes other parts of your body, A Jingle Bell Mingle is a sweet Christmas romance whose FMC also does a little ghost hunting. There’s truly something for everyone in this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for sharing this ARC!

It should have come to no surprise (especially for myself) that I was not able to get into this book. I started and subsequently DNF'd A Merry Little Meet Cute last year...I am nothing if not persistent, so I thought I'd try again. Unfortunately this series just does not do it for me.

Might be my favorite in the series! Grumpy to sunshine love story it was gold! Thank you #NetGalley #AJingleBellMingle

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the ARC! A Jingle Bell Mingle wraps up the story of the INK boy band members, following the grieving widower Isaac Kelly. Isaac shared a steamy night with Sunny Palmer (see A Holly Jolly Ever After), now she's trying to restart her career having pitched a script to the Hope Channel, while Isaac needs to create a new album but desparately needs a new muse. Isaac ends up inviting Sunny to live with him while they work. She will get free room and board for helping to find Isaac a new muse. But things get complicated whe the two decide to also be friends with benefits and feelings start to form. All the members of INK as well as series favorite Teddy, make an appearance in this final (?) book.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series. The second was a let down but I was excited to read the third installment of the series. Unfortunately it read as too cheesy for me.