It’s rare when you love the last book in a series as much as you loved the first, yet I did. Julie and Sierra have this magical way about them where they can take deeply personal and innately sad subject matters and write them in a way that is witty and sexy to boot. I would go from highlighting sections about death and grieving to skinning squirrels and having sex only the way porn stars and former boy banders in Christmas Notch can. This book, like the rest of the series, is chaos, but in the same way pineapple on pizza is. It shouldn’t work yet for those of us it does work for, it’s heaven in our mouths.

I LOVED the conclusion to this delightful series. The angstiest of the bunch and totally had me ugly crying at one point.

Wonderful main characters who deal with grief and forging ahead in a wonderfully charming, raunchy, and heartfelt way. Both are supported by an amazing cast of characters, the obstacles of just existing as a human, and braving the holidays.

I truly have fallen in love with this series and can’t recommend it enough.

This is very much becoming a favorite series of mine. Murphy and Simone have done it again mixing kinky hijinks and heartfelt found family (plus a heath dose of holiday cheer) for a great contemporary romance.

Focusing on Sunny and Isaac we see a reunion of all the characters we have loved throughout the series. Here I will apply the disclaimer that while this book can stand alone, keeping track of the peripheral characters and multiple subplots will be much easier if you have read along with the whole series. Sunny and Isaac are classic "grumpy-sunshine" trope but with an icing of "manic quirky girl that is actually being crushed by untreated ADHD" and "hero with a tragic backstory that maybe should be fixed by therapy and not magic sex"...and I have no notes on how ridiculously perfect this is. Adding in "forced proximity," "only one bed," "matchmaking for your one true love" and a spooky mystery makes this a fun, though emotional and heartfelt read.

Fans of the series will be thrilled with this new addition to the series. I am certainly keeping my fingers crossed for much more from this cast of characters.

I don’t think this book was for me. I loved the first 55% but after that, I just got bored and found myself putting the the book down more than I was reading it. I love the concept and the spice is spicing …but I just couldn’t do it I ended up
Stopping at 63% and skipping to the end chapter & epilogue

I read this without having read the rest of the series first, and while I wish I knew some of the characters better, it was still pretty easy to jump in and enjoy the story.

Sad boy is happy being sad, mostly. Except sometimes you just need a little release, right? Sunshine girl is perfectly happy fumbling through adulthood with her evil cat. Except sometimes it's lonely trying to put on the happy face all the time. After a mutual friend's wedding, they app-cidentally fall into bed together (not for the first time) and maybe sad boy discovers he'd like a little more sunshine in his life and his large, quiet mansion....

A delightful third and final entry in the Christmas Notch trilogy, once again a romantic, sexy, wholesome, sad and funny Christmas story, complete with strippers, pop stars, porn stars, a mystery involving a WWII Christmas miracle, muses, song and script writing, internet sleuths, found family, grief, diapers, and more.

I loved every minute and while I loved the ending, I was so sad to have finished this awesome trilogy!

Having loved all of the Christmas Notch books, I can confidently say that this one was my favorite!

We've spent the past two books getting to know Sunny and Isaac, but getting a spotlight on them was far and away beyond my expectations. Sunny, as per her name, is sunshine who loves to make everyone around her smile but who has some trauma of her own that she has yet to fully unpack, whereas Isaac wears his trauma on his sleeve as if that will protect him from facing any further sadness in his life. While the two are an unlikely pair, they just work together and the best part of the book is how much you smile when reading what these two get up to.

Reading this book is like sipping a hot chocolate, it makes you feel comforted, moved by the romance, and emotional in all the right ways. I truly hope Sierra and Julie never stop writing together because they really make up the perfect contemporary romcoms.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was cozy and cute. A Jingle Bell Mingle had all the hallmark Christmas movie vibes but with a heavy dose of steamy spice. It’s fun, entertaining, and reads very quickly. This heartwarming Christmas romance makes for a great holiday read.

Tropes:
🎄 Holiday Romance
❤️ Small Town
🪞 Opposites Attract
🛏️ Roommates to Lovers
☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine
🌶️ Steamy

Thank you Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of A Jingle Bell Mingle.

Loved this one so much, I will be sad that series Is coming to an end. This series has been so fun, Christmas notch being a quirky town. With the best friendships, and family. This one packed the spice and had all my favorite places. It was a wonderful way to round out this series even though I’m sad to see it go.

A great addition Christmas Notch series. The realness of adults going through their own issues is refreshing. Sunny and Isaac are lovable and the push and pull of their friendship turned relationship helped maintain interest throughout. While easy to follow there were side storylines (Isaac’s online friends) that could have been cut to create a less distracting read. The right mix of plot, sex, friendship, and love. It’s holiday adjacent but not overkill in a way that would keep you from enjoying it any time of the year.

Thank you Harper Collins Publishing, Net Galley, and the author for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

✨ARC Review✨

We’re closing the books on Christmas Notch, Vermont with this sweet and spicy Isaac and Sunny story. It is a lovely ending and a tender farewell to all of these crazy characters we fell in love with throughout the series.

Isaac has been grief-stricken for the five years since his wife died. He doesn’t write music anymore and he just wants to be numb and stare into the void. Unfortunately for him, he still owes his record label an album. He buys the mansion that was the movie set in the previous books and hunkers down to write the requisite Christmas album. His goal is to get it done and go back to the void.

Enter our brilliant, sunshine in a gorgeous package, Sunny. She’s vibrant and chatty and sexy as hell. Isaac had a one-night stand with her (and Jack Hart) two years earlier and he hasn’t forgotten a single thing about her.

They reconnect in a big way at their friends’ wedding. Isaac is still in need of a muse to help with writing this album, but Sunny says a big no thank you to that responsibility. She is willing to help him find another muse though. But is she really?

Isaac and Sunny are both still grieving their losses, but they also manage to have some fantastic banter. I love Sad Boy Isaac the mostest out of all our former pop stars, but it really is a close race.

Shenanigans are afoot. Spicy times are had. Feral felines are given fancy lobster cat food for dinner. And heartwarming mysteries are solved. Love is found again.

I am grateful to #netgalley and @AvonBooks and @HarperVoyagerUS for the ARC. All thoughts are mine alone.

#romance #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #christmasnotch #ajinglebellmingle #sierrasimone #juliemurphy #bookreview #bookrecs #bookstagram #spicyromance #spicybooks

I LOVE LOVE LOVED LOVED IT it was such a fun holiday rom com i can’t wait to read more from these authors.

I probably should have reread the other books in this series before reading this one, but I think I retained enough that it was a good read for me. Although overall, I love the series, this one just fell flat for me. It was great, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't as connected to this book as the others. I can still see this being popular at my library though!

This is fantastic and led me to read all the rest of the novellas in this series. This series is sweet, funny and spicy.. but there is time spent on all aspects of the story. This is more than a second chance romance between a porn star. This makes you laugh and cry and cheer with every turn of the page.. and I loved the little cozy mystery this book brought it was very unique.

A Jingle Bell Mingle is an engaging and super spicy Christmas themed romance book. The third book in the Christmas Notch series, it finishes up the series with Sunny and Isaac’s story.

Reading this book was a lot of fun. Sunny and Isaac both have tasks to complete and are lacking inspiration. In trying to help each other find that inspiration, things start to happen. Throw in a local story they’re investigating and this just makes for an amusing and entertaining read. And for those of you who like your books spicy, this one turns up the heat!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was great! I love romance books, and this one was no exception! The characters were wonderful and realistic, the plot was well written, and the setting was gorgeous. I cannot wait until this is published so everyone can read it!

Fantastic conclusion to the Christmas Notch series. <3

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read this eARC

This is the third novel in a series (not including two novellas) and you will need to read the others first to know what’s going on. I do not recommend reading out of order.

This novel definitely has the humor of the first two, but lacks the charm. A lot of the pieces were there, but it never came together. The problem for me is that while I have no doubt they’re hot for each other, I don’t buy their love/feelings for each other.

I do love Isaac and I really appreciated seeing someone seek/find love after loss, I just wish it was better developed. The WWII love story, however, was an absolute highlight!

Sex scenes ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Romance ⭐️
Mr. Tumnus ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Rating: 3.5
Vibe: Spicy Christmas romance
Format: ARC eBook

Isaac Kelly just needs to write one more album to fulfill his contract, and then he can continue life as a grieving recluse in peace. After accidently selling a screenplay that she hadn’t even written yet, Sunny Palmer needs get to work. When Isaac offers Sunny space in his secluded mansion at the edge of town, the two expect to work quietly alongside each other as roommates. But will the magic of Christmas Notch inspire more than just work?

Having read both preceding novels in the series, I was delighted to return to the world of Christmas Notch and its larger-than-life characters. Authors Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone once again delivered with the laughs and quippy one-liners. I felt imbued with Christmas spirit and joy, even as I read this in the middle of July. Their ability to create an all-encompassing universe on the page is unmatched. I also enjoyed getting to “check in” on my favorite couples. Sunny was such a realistic character, both with her insecurities as well as the grief she still carried after losing her parents as a child. Isaac was a harder character for me to root for. Though his grief was very real and understandable, I kept waiting to see aspects of his character beyond “Sad Boy,” as Sunny described it. Separate from his grief, his misery was often of his own making, and while I appreciated that he came to this realization by the end, it made him difficult to empathize with. I also found the plot of the novel difficult to follow at times as Sunny and Isaac’s relationship felt stagnant. The last quarter of the book saw major development in their characters as well as in the plot, and I wish that momentum had been present earlier. While not my favorite in the series, it offered the characters great closure and I would definitely recommend it to others who enjoyed the first two books in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for granting me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The final installment of this insanely fun, raunch-com series was a delicious delight to read. I thoroughly enjoyed diving back into the town of Christmas Notch while revisiting the entire cast as Isaac and Sunny found their happily ever after.

I would compare Isaac Kelly to Eeyore. Isaac knows he's gloomy, he prefers to live within his despair cloud, and he doesn’t really like people except for a chosen few which includes Sunny Palmer. Sunny is the polar opposite of Isaac which makes their chemistry on the page infectious. She loves meddling, thrives in social situations, and is really outgoing and sunshiny. Would I call it a flaw that she loves Isaac’s gloomy personality, not in a million years because it makes her perfect for the isolated grumpster, no matter how much they both fight it.

I loved how much these two feed off of each other's company, it was like cat nip to my romance lovin' soul. They can't seem to stay away from one another, whether it's clothed or not, even when they say they will, over and over again. It's some kind of Christmas Notch magic that they find themselves waking up in the other's bed....or the fact that it's their unbreakable attraction, but whatever it is, it's adorable.

On top of their insane and intense connection there is a reason for these two to be in constant contact with one another. Sunny is researching a fantastical, small-town legend that she heard while staying in Christmas Notch and she knew deep in her heart that it would make a great screen adaptation, but she also knew she'd need to track down more information to help fill in the blanks before finishing her screenplay. Isaac wants to help her because he is able to procrastinate in his own writing and also spend time with Sunny, so win-win. In reality Isaac has been feeling more inspired just by being in Sunny's presence and he does have to record a new record. He desperately wants Sunny to be his new muse, but she declines the offer, over and over again, so the longer she's in Isaac's orbit, the more he can write. Sneak muse attack, he's really good at that without meaning to. They are damaged, there is no doubt, although I hate to use that word given their history, but together they heal and grow beautifully.

Their roommate with benefits agreement is a win-win until things start to feel messy, but who wants to address that...not Eeyore or Sunshine, that's who. While they tracked down clues to the tale, it only helped bring them closer together as a couple.

Jingle Bell Mingle is like reading a story within a story, a fun story with an added layer of mystery to go along with romance. The entire book is a mix of sweet and spicy, something that this writing duo does very well together. Jingle Bell Mingle is just a pure joy to read, no ifs ands or buts about it. It's a story that brings tons of heart while it hits all the feels. So while realizing that this is the third and final installment of the A Christmas Notch series, and while I'm happy for everyone to be coupled up, I'm also sad to leave such a wonderful and wacky world.

Thank you so much to Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone, Avon Books, and NetGalley for the eARC.