3.5 stars, rounded up.

Definitely a unique holiday rom-com! I loved the writing, as I always do with these authors. That being said, this one was maybe trying a bit too hard for me? It was like, let's celebrate sex workers and people with mental health struggles, and fat people, etc etc etc. Like, maybe stick to just one or two things? It just all got to be a bit jumbled at times.
That being said, I adored the insta-love, the setting, and so many of the side characters. It was a great cast, for the most part. I could have done with more banging, TBH, given how many times that gingerbread lotion and toys were brought up. But, overall, I enjoyed the book.

- fun, holiday romance
- spice 3/5
- LGBTQIA+
The romance was fun, the spice ranks at a 3/5, and my favorite parts were the commentary and struggles with human nature vs. what is expected of females (and males) according to societal norms. I really loved Bee's character. She was honest and open about her career and had support from friends and family. Such a different take to see someone in the sex industry that has support in all areas. Even with that support though, she still struggles with society as a whole and with being able to act in roles that she wants due to that aspect of her career. My favorite parts of the story were the ending when the media outcries and later support were so well encompassed. Gretchen and Pearl's reactions to Bee and Ray's backgrounds were everything you want in honest, good characters, and Nolan's final understanding of how his social perceptions were ruining the good things in his life were done thoughtfully and believably.

I did not enjoy this book at all. It was just trying way too hard to be shocking and edgy. I found the constant vulgarity to be too much. I am not a prude by any means, but there wasn't time for a story to develop with all of the pornography, sex toys, etc. being constantly dropped into the conversation. The plot was underdeveloped.

Chef’s Kiss 💋 I first started this in September when the book came out but I was just not in the holiday vibes yet so I’m so glad I restarted it and got to appreciate it for the amazing book it is. I’m so glad that this is going to be a series. We need more sex positive but sweet rom coms. Sierra and Julie killed it!!

This book definitely took me by surprise in terms of the level of spice!! This book is certainly spicy and also did not disappoint in the cutesy romancey, innocent crush department as well. Anyway, Nolan & Bee's chemistry was spot-on and kept ME wanting more. I love love love that Bee is 1) an adult-film star that tackles a fru fru Christmas movie, and 2) that she is plus-sized! Yas to representation! I thoroughly enjoyed this light-hearted (and did I mention SPICY) read and would give it a 4/5 star rating!

2 Disappointing Stars

This had such an amazing concept but the execution didn’t do it for me 😭

I adored all of the different dynamics of the characters + the inclusivity. i also loved having a plus sized porn star as the mc. ✨

I just got so bored throughout the book. Maybe if it was shorter I would’ve liked it more. I felt like it was so long for no reason. I loved the idea of the plot but I couldn’t feel the connection between bee & nolan. I wanted more romance tbh.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Bee Hobbes has a successful career as a plus-size film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. When I started reading I couldn't put it down.Julie Murphy is magnifysent and amazing writer.I cannot wait to read more of there books.Keep up the great work.You should definitely read this books.Can't wait for the next book

What an adorably smutty romance! I want more pairings of porn stars and sex-positive former boybanders. I want more romances in tiny towns straight of Hallmark movies...with a side of steam. Don't wait until next Christmas--read this book now!

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Bee Hobbes is a successful plus-size adult film star with a cult-like following. When she is cast in a Hope Channel (think Hallmark channel) Holiday flick starring next to Hollywood’s ex-boy band bad boy, Nolan Shaw, Bee must do everything she can to keep her self out of trouble and squeaky clean for the two week movie shoot. Bee and Nolan quickly find there’s a lot more chemistry between the two of them then they expect and soon realize they’re struggling to keep it rated PG.

Hilarious and fun, A Merry Little Meet Cute is a great holiday read - but having read Murphy’s other works, I was a little disappointed by the constant fat-phobia and fat-phobic language. The plot wasn’t great, to be frank Nolan Shaw’s character is extremely unhealthy and very problematic - but if you’re looking for a naughty Santa read - this is the one.

Thanks to Net Galley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Read if you like:

+ The Bodyguard by Katherine Center but with a spicier twist
+ Steamy Holiday Romances
+ Celebrity inspired romance

Have you ever wondered what you would get if you mixed a feel good cutesy Christmas story with a raunchy steamy love story topped off with a healthy dose of
LGBTQIA+ and fat rep? Well look no further because OH MY GOD I am obsessed with this book and this world and I cannot wait to see what story comes next from Julie and Sierra!! I have yet to meet a Julie Murphy book I didn't love and now I feel like I need to read my first Siera Simone novel because damn 👏 Literally this story was the PERFECT combination of sweet, steamy feel good, raunchy, feminist, fat positive, queer, and heartwarming.

THANK YOU NetGalley, and now I will be not so patiently waiting for the release of a book two with Kallum and Winnie 😍😍

A Merry Little Meet Cute is what happens when a boy band bad boy trying to rehab his image and a porn star with dreams of going mainstream star in a Hallmark-style cheesy Christmas movie together. What could go wrong? I always love a Christmas book around the holidays, but this take on the usually very tame genre was so fun. I would definitely recommend this to rom-com-lovers looking for a sweet and spicy Christmas read.

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone. Pub Date: September 20, 2022. Rating: 2 stars. When I read the synopsis of this book, I was excited for the themes of body positivity, holiday cheer and romance. But honestly, this book was very dull and full of spice but minimal storyline. A porn star is cast in a Christmas movie on a family friendly movie channel with a male lead pop star, What leads the story is the spice, but it felt forced and over the top. I wish there was more development of love and relationship between the lead couple rather than a plethora of spicy scenes. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon books for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #amerrylittlemeetcute #netgalley

This is a super steamy holiday romance. This book is a little slow, but still enjoyable! This is a celebrity and forbidden romance book. You can expect all the small town vibes in this book. If you’re a fan of a spicer Hallmark style book, you will love this one!

Give me a zaftig heroine any day, and in this romance, she just so happens to be a porn star as well. Fun times.

The basic story is that Bee is trying to break into non-porn Hollywood, and Nolan, a former boy-band bad boy who wants to be squeaky clean, and reboot his career. They both end up staring in a clean Christmas mad-for-tv movie, think Hallmark Channel, and both are trying hard not to have feelings for each other. Bee, because she followed Nolan’s career in his boy band, and worshiped him from afar. And Nolan has been a subscriber to Bee’s porn channel, and has been lusting after her for a good long time.

So that is the set up, and in a typical ron-com, hilarity, as well as bumping uglies follows, despite the fact that they are both supposed to be pure on set.

Sparkling dialogue. Fun side characters. Fun book. Warning to those who like their romances pure, this is definitely not that. When they do have sex, we get all the details.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

I have to start out by giving alllll the content warnings because this book was basically porn and I feel like the cover can be very misleading.

Having said that it was so much more than just sex. It talks about identity, values, family sacrifices, and how society views adult actresses.

While my personal values aren't necessarily aligned with those of the main character, I still really enjoyed the book, and appreciated the different perspective presented by the author.

Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This spicy number was a fun read. What isn’t to love when a group of porn stars and support crew are contracted for the filming of a Hallmark type movie? You can’t help but laugh. Is it realistic? No…but definitely entertaining!

The spicy scenes were a bit over the top and most of them were not really necessary. I feel it detracted from parts of the story line and the love story that the author was trying to achieve. Overall, I did enjoy the writing most of the time. Less smut and shorter book would have probably made this a 4 star read, but I’m giving it 3.5 instead.

3.5 Stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #avonbooks #ltbreaderteam

CW: Serious illness of mother (Bipolar disorder, head injury resulting from this, hospitalizations), fatshaming, sexshaming, being outed online, boss stealing money from employee. Brief mentions: death of father, death of friend’s partner.

Bee Hobbes is a successful adult film star, but now her career is taking a different approach. She is now going to star in a Christmas movie, the catch, it's for the Hope Channel. A channel that is known for it's squeaky-clean image and family-friendly movies. Keeping her adult film work under wraps seemed like it would be easy and entirely possible until she realized that her childhood crush, Nolan Shaw, is her co-star. Now they are trying to keep their relationship a secret so their movie doesn't end up as a disaster.

I was so eager to dive into this. I wanted the cute holiday rom-com that would give me that warm and fuzzy feeling they so often do. <i>Merry Little Meet Cute</i> did not give me that.

The holiday festivities really were a major background to the whole story that was more focused on making sure that Bee's adult film past wasn't found out and Nolan's family that he was trying to take care of. I was eager to read this for the holiday vibes and when this didn't have that that was disappointing for me.

If I had known that this would be a duel POV story, which I know makes sense for two authors but the summary really doesn't give that vibe, I probably wouldn't have picked this up. Nolan was one of the reasons that this didn't work for me. As soon we meet him, he's talking about how hard it is for him to control himself basically. Then as soon as he realized Bee is his co-star all his inner dialogue becomes is how hot she is. It was like he was still seeing the porn star on his screen rather than the human being in front of him and it was disgusting to read time and time again. A number of his chapters could have been cut out because thoughts about Bee were all they contained.

On top of that, the number of times it was mentioned that Nolan jerking off to gingerbread lotion was far too many.

The smut... I am by no means well versed in smut, but I'm versed enough to know that this was horrible. There were so many lines that made my nose crinkle and pulled me out of the scene. They were clunky and, while I don't like to say this word to describe things, it was cringe. Clit was referred to as a button, she was going to spear herself with his penis it just... it was horrible.

I mentioned it earlier, but this was a long story that I think would have really benefited from being shorter. There were a lot of things that were repeated time and time along which really made it difficult to read as it just becoming

I wanted to like this. The plot seemed promising. A fat MC who is also a porn star seemed like such a promising start, but the weak characters and lack of chemistry made it hard for me to get sucked into the story and stay there. <i>A Merry Little Meet Cute</i> simply wasn't for me.

This is a spicy holiday romance that will get you in the holiday mood…as well as another mood. I thought both characters had great chemistry and were both well rounded and complex. Although it’s a “spicy romance” it still had a great plot with some interesting conflicts throughout. Would recommend this to anyone who love Hallmark movies but wishes they had sex!

While I liked the characters, the plot, and the representations, something about this just fell flat for me. Perhaps it was the constant reminder that Bee was fat. Or that Nolan was a bad boy. I'm just not sure...I can see the merits but it just didn't vibe for me.

I liked the concept of this book and there were a lot of parts I really liked! It just felt a little too long for me but overall not bad!