This awesome writing duo has created a unique, interesting, steamy, hilarious story that I loved. The writing is excellent, the characters are striking and the story is absorbing. Be sure to make time for this little beauty, you won’t be sorry!

Two bisexual disasters on a film set have separately been given orders to keep it in their pants and maintain a very chaste public image...what do you think is going to happen?!? Pure unadulterated (and disastrous) fun of course. Also this is a Hallmark-ish Christmas movie and the stars are a former bad boy popstar and a fat porn actress with a lucrative Only Fans-ish following. Is he secretly a subscriber at the highest tier and did she have a big crush on him back in the day? So much yes!

Honestly this whole book is a delight. It's achieved the perfect fusion of funny and hot. The side characters are great and I'm very much hoping for sequels. The fat rep is fantastic. And the sex work representation was very thoughtfully done, not played for a one note punchline.

Back when this partnership was first announced, I wondered how the book would turn out. While I very much enjoy Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone, they have different writing styles and core audiences. Now I think it's the best thing to have ever happened to Christmas rom-com's.

This book had a great premise, but for me, it just didn’t fulfill expectations.
Plus, as a fan of Julie Murphy’s young adult books, and a retired school librarian, I am concerned about the cartoonish cover for this book, which is probably not appropriate for the school-aged reader!

Big thanks to Avon Romance for an early copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is being given honestly and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 Jolly Stars for my bi idols!

Absolutely loved Nolan and Bee and was super excited to read their story. I was not only obsessed with the premise (porn star and former pop star who are secretly obsessed with each other before they meet?) but loved the fact that Bee was a plus size queen! Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone did such a great job executing this book and I struggled so much to not annotate my physical copy because I wanted to keep it in great condition! I DO have plans to annotate the eff out of one of the 3/4 copies I pre-ordered and may even need to re-read to make a note of everything I want to mark.

Honestly you can’t go wrong picking up this book and I really recommend that everyone preorder it asap!

To say I loved this book would be an understatement. I have been in such a slump recently and this is my first five star read in a while. I ADORED all the various rep (plus size! Bisexual! Gay! Jewish!) and I loved that this gave an inside peel into sex work.

I also ADORED the rom com of this whole book not was just *chef’s kiss* perfection. Reformed bad boy Nolan and sexy vixen Bee are just perfect!

I love this author duo. They really made some spicy Christmas magic together! I flew through this book. The whole cast of characters were a good time. I’m excited to see what Julie and Sierra write together in the future!

Thank you so much to Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone, Avon Books, Harper Collins & NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This has been one of my most anticipated reads for the year ever since the premise of this book was announced. I mean a plus size female main character and a former boy band member working on a movie?! This was made for Stephanie.

"I love making people happy and nothing brings more joy than Christmas and titties."

Porn star Bianca Von Honey is looking to expand her career to what she always wanted - to be an actress. Going by her real name Bee Hobbes, she has the opportunity to star in Hope Channel's holiday film "Duke The Halls" alongside her boy band crush Nolan Shaw. What Bee doesn't know is that Nolan also has a crush on her as he is a loyal subscriber to her Closed Door account. They both needed this project to work as Nolan struggling to remain afloat once his boy band era fizzled and Bee trying to not be cancelled due to her career as a sex worker.

"I love you in the dark. I love you in the light. I love you everywhere."

This book was so much fun and had everything that you want in a romance read. I was already a fan of Julie's work but had not yet gotten to read any of Sierra's work yet so I was really excited to read this. She definitely brought allll the spice to life. In today's culture, as fan of public figures we tend to think that we know that said figure. In this book was no exception,

I am torn in how I feel about Nolan and Bee's relationship. Nolan felt as if he knew Bee and Bee felt like she knew Nolan. I like to think that with all the down time on set and off, they really got to know each other and connect on a deeper level. Sometimes it felt as if they were just living out each other fantasies.

But I also love that Nolan's feelings for Bee were known right away. I felt that his developed sooner than hers did. Not much further being but just a tad. It also just made me giggle with his time with the trusty gingerbread lotion (iykyk). I love Bee's relationship with her moms and the friendships she made with those that she has worked with on set. I also love that Bee was not apologetic about her body. She loves it, she embraces it and doesn't let it affect her goals. I also love that not only was Bee bisexual but Nolan was as well. I feel that the times I see bisexuality represented it is just the female so it was refreshing to have a male mc be bisexual as well.

This book also shed light on how the treatment sex workers are treated. Bee became the subject to many articles (good and bad) and unwarranted comments.

I really hope that Julie and Sierra continue to work together on future projects.
I really like the style that they both brought to the book.

4.5

A former pop star and a current adult film star falling in love while making a Christmas movie is a very entertaining story premise. Bee tries to hide her other profession, wanting to give it a real go as a serious actress, and Nolan is trying to revamp his image. Not to mention they've both been ordered to not engage in any sort of hanky panky while filming. But I mean, that chemistry was strong. And they were already fans of each other.

There were some funny moments in here, like I laughed out loud. And the steam was good. I appreciated the love for a plus sized heroine, and I really liked the way things turned out. I love the beautiful cover, and I'd love to read books about Nolan's past band mates in the future. Very enjoyable read, in a cute Christmassy town.

I just loved this book. The characters pulled me in and it was a fun story, with all the emotions.
Sad happy steamy
Julie and Simone are a great team

A steamy, 18+ romance with a wonderful amount of depth of character. The slow burn was just long enough.

This book was such a disappointment. I could not get into them as a couple. It just seemed like they were both fulfilling fantasies before they even got to know each other. There was no connection between the two of them.

This is an enticing and entertaining story. Bee is an adult film entertainer getting the opportunity to branch out as a regular actor. Nolan is a former bad boy singer trying to reform his image as an actor. The authors have created some superb characters for the story. They are funny and witty. Bee and Nolan make sexy hot and smart. The plot is creative and showcases love, family and friendship. Bee and Nolan fall in love and find the true meaning of Christmas.

Fa La La La oh my, A Merry Little Meet Cute is just the right amount naughty. The cover alone sold me. The story served up ALL the tropes for a sexy romance; childhood crush, workplace romance and forbidden love.

This holiday love story is more than just sex, it serves up public perception of certain industries, plus size women and living life on your own terms. I throughly enjoyed the audio as we'll. The narrators were simply fantastic.

I need more of this duo's books NOW! Thank you Avon for the e-book and Harper Audio for the audiobook.

LOVED A Merry Little Meet Cute!

This was so much fun! It has everything that I want from a steamy holiday romance. Amazing chemistry between the main characters, a great premise, and an atmospheric setting that brings the season to life. I really enjoy books (both fiction and non-fiction) that involve the adult industry. So having the plot be about Bee, a porn star, getting the lead role in a family friendly holiday romance and having to keep her adult film persona a secret while filming the movie made for a very fun story. And then to add onto that, having the romantic lead in the movie be a former bad boy from a pop band trying to improve his image just made this a great time.

The characters had so much chemistry and got themselves into so many entertaining situations. There were multiple moments that had me laughing out loud. I enjoyed how a lot of the side characters in the book were also part of the adult industry. I feel like the book portrayed a positive side of the industry while also showing the stigmas that sex workers face in the world. There were good discussions of how men and women are treated differently by the public and the media when it comes to how their sex lives are discussed. I also loved how both characters were bisexual.

I hope that Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy write more books together. This was a great blend of really good steamy scenes, emotional development, relationship building, and silly times. Definitely check this out if you’re in the market for a spicy holiday read.

A porn star looking for new opportunities.
A former pop star attempting to improve his image.
A Hallmark-like Christmas movie.
Doesn't seem like the normal meet cute, but that's what makes this story so fun.

Producer Teddy Ray Fletcher has a problem. The lead for his romance themed movie, Duke the Halls, has been injured and he has days to replace her. When he mixes up his files with his side porn business, the Christmas movie director homes in on one of his porn stars, Bee Hobbes aka Bianca von Honey. For whatever reason, he goes along with this plan to cast her in the crazy hopes that no one realizes who this actress might be. As the reader, you know things will inevitably go sideways, it is just a matter of when it will happen and who it would impact.

What I didn't expect from this story was how the hero, Nolan Shaw, treated Bee, knowing full well her true identity. Obviously, there is some lust there on his part, but he genuinely seemed ok with how she made a living and respected her beyond that lust. As the couple grew closer together during their filming, I liked how they didn't lie about anything with one another and knew how much was on the line should her past be revealed.

When things do go sideways, my heart hurt for both Nolan and Bee, and how the media treated them. But I liked how the authors had the characters overcome that drama to get their well-deserved HEA. While this isn't your standard Holiday romance, it packs some heat to keep you warm *wink wink* during those cold winter days, along with a nice dose of sweet.

If you want a holiday romance with plenty of spice, add this to your list for the season! We get a plus size adult film star heroine who is expanding her acting to a family-friendly holiday movie and starring beside a former boy band member who is rehabbing his image. Our characters have experienced some mutual pining before meeting in real life, so I was okay with the bit of insta-love/attraction. Beyond the steam, we also see them prioritizing family, mental health, and navigating public opinion. It was a fun story overall with a bit of chaos and over-the-top Christmasy charm in a small town.

Thanks Avon Books for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank You NetGalley and Avon for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

4.5/5 stars (rounded up to 5 on here)

Let me just first start by saying that this cover is very deceiving, but in the best of ways! When you see this cover, you think oh it’s so cute and the story is going to be cute. Don’t get me wrong, the storyline was amazing, but the spice level was off the charts! I absolutely loved it!

I loved how this story was so inclusive and the authors did such a great job with the representations around bisexuality, plus size characters, and positivity with the sex work industry. I feel like the authors handled these topics with such respect and did a great job merging them all together into one amazing story. I also loved the growth of the characters throughout the storyline and even when discussing their past histories. Overall, I think this was a great first novel combining both Murphy and Simone’s writing styles!
*
This review will be posted to my Instagram blog (read_betweenthecovers) in the near future!

This was so cute and had the right amount of sweet with spice! This is cozy and makes you want to run away with a very hot significant other. I enjoyed the characters, and felt like I was saying goodbye to friends by the time this was over!

Thank you to Sierra Simone, Julie Murphy, the publisher, and to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Big girl romance is EVERYTHING, but I never fully got lost in this one.

Of course I adored the fat representation, bisexual rep, and the positivity around sex work, which were great parts about this book. I was definitely invested in the first half of the book or so, but I felt like it might have lost steam in the second half. Maybe their problems didn't seem logical, which had me overthinking.

The spice was pretty warm, but never really felt super exciting.

I did think that the narrators did a fantastic job on the audiobook. Loved the dual point of views in the plot and the narrators made it even better.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but the authors threw in way too much - porn stars, bisexuality, innuendo, and much more. The story was buried under it all and I couldn't finish it. Skip this one.